Baseball Sets Records with Sweep of Regis

With Saturday afternoon’s 6-4 win over the Regis Rangers at Jim Darden Field, the Oredigger baseball team set a program record for conference wins at 18. The Diggers are on a streak of success and have now won 15 of their last 20 games. The sweep of Regis brings their record to 20-17 overall and 18-12 in the RMAC. Mines took Thursday’s game 7-6, Friday’s 15-4, and Saturday’s doubleheader 6-2 and 6-4.

Thursday’s 7-6 victory came on a walkoff from a fielder’s choice hit by A.J. Schillinger, as Logan Smith ran home on an errant throw by the Regis pitcher, one of six errors committed by the Rangers. Smith had reached on an error to leadoff the inning, and was advanced by a Josh Martinez bunt and a Cody Marvel walk. Overall offensively, Marvel and Schillinger led the team with two hits apiece, while Zach Bothwell drove in three runs. On the mound, Peter Herrin struck out four batters in his two and a third innings pitched, and picked up his first win of the season. Both he and Nick Vitulli had hitless relief appearances to relieve Ben Gilman.

On Friday, the Oredigger bats exploded for 15 runs on 17 hits, including a seven-run first inning. That first inning, along with much of the game, was fueled by singles, except for Evan Brown’s RBI double to right center field. A.J. Valerio picked up his first pitching win of the season in five innings of work, while Will Phillips, James Wurster, Brandon Storm, and Kellen MacDonald all provided solid relief in the remaining innings.

Nate Olinger picked up his fifth win of the season in Saturday’s opener, pitching a seven-inning complete game. Olinger allowed two runs on five hits, and struck out one without giving up a walk in the series-clincher. The offense supported him from the get-go, with three runs in the first, another in the third, and two more in the sixth. Both Cody Marvel and Rey Chavarria had multi-hit games, while Marvel and Olinger drove in two runs apiece. Both teams played errorless baseball in the opener.

Going for the sweep, Mines got off to a good start in the second game by scoring two runs in the first on Olinger and Schillinger singles. The Diggers scored another run in the fourth, and Regis’ offense was silent until the sixth inning, when they scored three to tie it up. Mines responded by scoring three more of their own in the bottom of the inning, using singles from Evan Brown and Josh Martinez to drive runners home, as well as a double play. Tommy Rodgers started the game, and had a decent outing with two runs allowed in five innings, but with the game getting tied in the sixth, Nick Vitulli ended picking up the win, while Peter Herrin recorded his second save.

With the fourth win, Mines not only captured a program record for conference wins, but senior Charlie Basil also earned his 200th hit of his collegiate career in the fourth inning.

Mines has two regular-season series left and plays Colorado Christian University this week on the road.