Minute Maid Park was at the center of the sporting universe a few weeks ago, as one of the greatest scandals in sports history emerged from the Houston Astros’ home. However, there was another major event that took place at the beginning of the month and that was the season opener for Mines baseball. Unlike the Astros scandal, there was a lot more promise on display in Houston as Mines would go 2-1 to start the year, with their only loss on the weekend being to #4 Central Missouri by one run in ten innings.
A major factor contributing to Mines’ success at the start of the year came from their loaded pitching corps. Mines returns seven senior arms to the roster with great performances already from Walter Pennington who pitched 5.1 shutout innings in the season opener, and Tyler Blomster who managed to only allow two earned runs in a 5 inning start against Central Missouri. It’s not just the seniors doing all the work though, several new players made their Mines debut. Zachary Kriethe earned the save in the season opener and Ben Schoneman pitched 3.1 innings of shutout relief.
While there may not be as many senior position players as pitchers, it certainly doesn’t mean that Mines’ bats aren’t returning with some serious power. Returning shortstop, sophomore Caden Bonds, has started the year 4-10 with an RBI and a walk. Junior Outfielder Alex Bumpus kicked off his Mines career in impressive offensive fashion as he has started the season 4-11 with three RBIs and two runs.
Despite how talented this team is, Mines faces a tough road to a conference title this year. as Colorado Mesa is currently ranked #2 in the country. Mines’ biggest conference series of the regular season will take place in Golden with a four game series from March 13th to 15th. This is part of a home schedule that also includes a four game series with CSU-Pueblo (April 9-11) and their last regular season series against UCCS (April 24-26).
For everyone who wanted to watch Mines baseball in action at Jim Darden Field, you will have to wait just a little bit longer as Mines’ first home series this past weekend was turned into a road series due to some very un-baseball like weather. Mines will now open up their entertaining home schedule with a game at 1 p.m. this Saturday against Regis.
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