DENVER, COLO. – The University of Sioux Falls men's baseball team had two solid pitching efforts but dropped a doubleheader to Metro State (4-4) on a 60 degree day in Denver, Colo. The Cougars lost, 5-1 and 5-4 in dropping to 0-2 on the season. The Cougars will look to bounce back with an 11 a.m. game on Sunday again with Metro State.
Game 1 – Metro State 5 USF 1
Despite a solid outing from pitcher Henry Ojeda, Cougars fell, 5-1. Ojeda, who is 0-1, went 6 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits and five runs, just three earned. He also recorded seven strikeouts with two walks. Metro State's Nick Hammett picked up the win to move to 1-2. He went 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run and four hits while striking out seven USF hitters. Connor Gibson finished up for the Cougars, going 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
The Cougars fell behind 1-0 in the second and Metro State added two runs in the fifth and one each in the sixth and seventh innings.
For USF, Trevor Crow recorded the first hit of the season in the second inning when Cougars couldn't bring him home after he had a stolen base and advanced to third. Metro State opened the scoring by plating a run off a walk to Trent Maloney, who advanced on a balk and a single before scoring on a passed ball on a strikeout.
In the early going Ojeda and Hammett were dominant with both allowing just one hit through three innings. Ojeda had three strikeouts and Hammett, six. In the fourth Tanner Olthoff had his 1st career hit but didn't advance as Hammett retired Crow and Austin Richey to get out of the fourth inning. In the fifth, Nick Comito had a two-run shot off Ojeda to build a 3-0 lead.
USF answered in the sixth as Brent Jarvis doubled for his first career hit and then scored on a wild pitch. However, the Roadrunners answered quickly with three straight hits to open the bottom of the sixth with Paust's hit plating Gibbons, who had opened the inning with a hit off Ojeda. An inning later, Gibbons hit a solo shot.
Game 2 – Metro State 5 USF 4
In game 2, the Cougars led 3-0 early and held a 4-3 lead before Metro State rallied for two runs in the bottom half of the seventh inning to win, 5-4.
Freshman pitcher Alex Wall had a solid start for USF, going 4 1/3 innings and allowed eight hits and three runs. Taking the loss for USF was Dylan Gavin (0-1), who was charged with both runs in the seventh.
The Cougars' offense was led by three freshman, including Tony Stanich who was 2-of-3 with two RBI. Brentt Jarvis had two hits, including an RBI triple, in three trips while Tanner Olthoff had a single and RBI. USF finished with four runs and eight hits. Metro State finished with five runs on nine hits. Ryan Baca (1-0) picked up the win after Mike Thill started for MSU. Thill went 5 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits and three earned runs.
The Cougars opened the scoring after Ed Reichenbach scored in the first. In the third inning, Jarvis had an RBI triple to score Noah Durkin and Olthoff plated Jarvis with an RBI double. After the Roadrunners tied the game with three runs on four hits in the fifth inning, USF had an answer with Rob Johnson ripping a base hit and scoring on a single by Stanich down the left field line in the sixth inning.
In the seven inning game, the Roadrunners rallied with one out in the seventh. A walk and hit batsman load the bases and after a wild pitch advanced the runners, USF intentionally walked Trent Maloney to load the bases. With one out, senior Danny Miller had a two-run game-winning single.
