Mesa St. baseball pounds Regis; softball splits at Pueblo

By SENTINEL STAFF

The Regis University baseball team simply couldn’t deal with Mesa State College’s aces Saturday at Denver.

Fruita Monument High School graduate Brett Armour opened the doubleheader by striking out six over nine innings to lead the Mavericks to a 10-5 victory for his 10th win of the season.

Left-hander Owen Williams (7-0) completed the sweep, throwing a three-hit shutout in the Mavs’ 9-0 seven-inning victory in the second game.

Matt Bodenchuk went 6 for 6 in the two games with a double, four RBI and four runs as Mesa State (35-6, 24-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) won its sixth in a row.

He briefly took over the team’s home-run lead with his 12th blast of the season, a two-run shot in the sixth inning that was the last of Mesa State’s three home runs in the opener.

Bodenchuk also moved his conference-best RBI total to 53.

Matt Miller got the Mavs on the scoreboard with a three-run blast in the third for his seventh home run of the year. Blaine Bernades also hit a solo shot in the fourth.

Chandler Herdt took back the team lead in the home run race with two home runs in the second game.

He crushed a two-run shot in the sixth and a three-run blast in the seventh for an RMAC-leading 13 home runs this year.

Herdt finished the doubleheader with five hits, seven RBI and two runs.

Bernades added another solo shot in the sixth for his fifth home run of the year.

SOFTBALL MESA STATE 1-9, CSU-PUEBLO 9-8

Central grad Rebecca McClelland had three hits and three RBI, and Sam Griego and Anita Diaz each drove in two runs in the second game to help Mesa State rally for a RMAC doubleheader split Saturday at Pueblo.

The Mavericks (23-8, 21-4 RMAC) squandered a 4-0 lead, but answered the ThunderWolves’ five-run fourth with three runs in the fifth and two in the sixth to preserve the split.

Cassie Phillips pitched 11/3 scoreless innings for her third save in relief of Jessica Rayman (7-5), who earned the win despite surrendering eight runs on eight hits and five walks in 52/3 innings.

CSU-Pueblo senior Breanna Hedstrom four-hit the Mavs and struck out six in the opener for her 10th victory of the year.

Alissa Zoelle singled home McClelland for Mesa State’s only run in the second.

The ThunderWolves (18-10, 16-8) scored all the runs they needed in the first, when Brittny Barnes’ two-run blast staked them to a 3-0 lead.

Jeanna Barnes keyed a four-run fifth with a leadoff home run as the Mavs lost by the eight-run mercy rule.

Phillips (12-2) was tagged with the loss after allowing six runs on seven hits in four innings.