Baseball gets shutout at Regis

The CSM baseball team traveled to Denver to play the Regis Rangers in a set of double headers Saturday and Sunday. Mines couldn’t get the bats going Saturday as they fell 9-0 in the first game and 4-0 in the second.

Senior righty Blake Dunham started Game 1 and got off to a rough start. Regis put up 3 runs in the first inning, but most of the hits were bloopers or grounders that got through. The Rangers started hitting the ball well in the second and third, scoring 2 and 3 runs respectively. Dunham settled down after that, throwing four shutout innings, and finishing the game with four strikeouts. The Mines defense was sharp, turning three double plays while committing no errors.

The Orediggers failed to put any runs up on the board, but collected 8 hits, 3 of which belonged to senior catcher Jordan Williams. Mines had an opportunity to break the shutout in the eighth, as sophomore third baseman Zach Bothwell bunt singled to the left side of the field and was caught stealing second base on a call that went Regis’ way, as it appeared the catcher’s high throw brought the second baseman off the bag. Freshman Nate Olinger reached on an error following the base stealing attempt, and Williams singled to right center, but a fly out ended the inning. Mines went down in order in the ninth, losing the game 9-0.

For the offense in the seventh inning afternoon game, it was more of the same for the Orediggers, this time with seven hits, two of which Bothwell hit.
Sophomore Ben Gilman started game two, and put forth an overall solid outing, going the full 6 innings and striking out 7 batters. Gilman allowed 3 runs in the first, although the triple down the left field line that scored two was ruled fair when it appeared foul by a foot. Gilman only allowed one more run in the fourth inning, keeping Mines in the game. Gilman took the loss, but still leads the starters with an ERA of 2.98 and shares the lead for pitcher wins with Dunham, at 5.

Mines played Regis Sunday in another double header. The team will make up a game against CSU-Pueblo that was earlier postponed due to snow and face Colorado Christian University over the weekend in their final series of the season at Darden Field.