The Buffs start fall ball against Colorado School of Mines
Colorado Buffaloes’ club baseball had their fall ball home opener on a warm, late September day at Scott Carpenter Park. Their first matchup was a 7-inning doubleheader against Colorado School of Mines, followed by a full 9-inning contest the following day.
Game 1
In the first match, the Buffaloes started out slow with a pretty consistent problem that stayed with them over the two-day set: walking batters. But they worked it out late in the inning with a double play.
In the bottom half of the first, the Buffs broke the seal and struck first after a single by Noah Morris snuck through to the outfield in left, scoring two.
CU kept the momentum going with a triple to the warning track by Duke Medina, later being scored on a fielder's choice by Andy McMicheal.
Later, the Buffs pushed the score to 6-2 after three consecutive bases-loaded walks.
In the fourth, Mines closed the gap, making it 5-6 after a mix of singles and errors.
But Colorado fought back with four straight walks and hit-by-pitches. It kept rolling, with two singles bringing in two runs, to make the score 5-9 and ending their scoring for the game.
Mines rallied through the top of the fifth and into the seventh, with runs coming from a home run hit by Zander Bellandham and an array of singles and walks. They scored six unanswered runs, bringing the score to its final 11-9 in favor of Mines.
Game 2
Mines was hot out of the gate in game two, scoring two runs early in the top of the second.
But the Buffs turned it around and ended the series with a dub. They took the lead in the bottom half of the inning on an HBP, an error by the Oredigger third baseman and then another walk that loaded the bases for Quinn Marr. He drove in two runners off a single to left. CU scored two more off of a fielder's choice and another Oredigger error.
Mines did not go down without a fight, though, tying the match up in the top of the fourth off singles by Zach Rodriguez and Brayden Daffer.
But that is where the scoring stopped for the Orediggers and started again for the Buffaloes. Colorado scored 12 unanswered runs across the bottom of the fourth and fifth, leading to a walk-off three-run moonshot by Shane Nicklaw.
The Buffs ended the day 1-1 and looked to go into the next day for a series win.
Game 3
Each team came in fresh, looking for an early fall victory on Sept. 27.
Mines took an early 2-0 lead on hits from Matt Lang and Daffer, but Colorado ended the inning on a double play after Lang tried to advance to second.
They extended their lead to 4-0 in the top of the second on a double by Bellandham and a single from Blake Lawson
The Buffaloes tied the game in the bottom of the second after Kyle Caccivilliani brought in two runners, and Will Roberts advanced to first on an error by the Oredigger first baseman, bringing in another two runs to make it 4-4.
The back-and-forth game continued as Mines took the lead back briefly with their bases-loaded opportunities. They pushed the lead to 7-4 before CU took it back in the bottom half of the inning. Colorado had a laundry list of walks, singles and a double to bring the score to 8-7.
The Orediggers scored one in the top half of the fourth on a passed ball and later in the same at-bat on a single, pushing the score to 9-8.
Neither team scored until Mines widened their gap to two after an RBI bloop single by Ryan Krischke.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Buffs ran away with it. Jack Mieser, who had a great day on the basepaths, scored on a passed ball, and later Rowan Hopson singled to score Tyler Gray, making it 10-1. Then, Finn Simmons subbed for Will Roberts and singled, bringing in Ryan Newton and Caccivilliani.
CU scored one more in the bottom of the seventh on a Brooks Orr double to make the score 13-10. In the top of the eighth, the umpire and the teams agreed to call the game, giving the CU Buffs the win and, ultimately, the series win.
The Buffaloes moved to 2-1 in the fall season, with their next set of games against Metro State University on Oct. 4 and their first away game the following day.
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