GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (April 25, 2025) - The Rollins offense could not get going, and a number of defensive miscues led to a convincing 9-2 win for the home Colorado Mesa Mavericks on Friday. The Tars move to 27-14 on the year while #12 Colorado Mesa improves to 31-10.
After Rollins went down in order in the first, the Mavericks scored once on a seeing-eye single, a wild pitch, a stolen base, and an error.
Jimmy Thies was the first Tar to achieve a hit with his third-inning double, but he was left stranded. In the bottom half, Mesa scored twice more on just one hit. A controversial play at the plate had a ball thrown from
Jeslyn Whitehead to catcher
Mason Wilson in time, but even after replay review, the call was that the runner slid under the tag.
The Mavericks blew the game open in the fourth when Paul Schoenfeld hit a three-run, wind-aided home run to left-center to make the score 6-0.
After Mesa added another run in the fifth, Rollins finally got on the board in the sixth. Thies led off the inning with a single, moved to second on an
Angelo Ramirez base hit, and advanced to third on a passed ball. With runners on second and third with no outs, the Tars managed to score just once on a sac fly.
The bottom half saw two more runs come across for the Mavericks on a double, but
Blake Tipmore struck out the final hitter with the bases loaded to avoid further damage.
The last run of the game came in the eighth when
Joey Rubin ripped a single up the middle to bring home
Michael Furry, who had doubled off the left field wall.
Though the game was well in hand, a special shout out goes to
Evan Cornelius who struck out the side in the eighth inning.
Rollins had seven hits in the game compared to Mesa's nine, but the difference came in the control department. Rollins pitchers walked eight batters, threw four wild pitches, and hit two batters. Maverick pitching did not issue a walk in the game.
The two teams will play the second game of the series on Saturday, April 26 at 3:00 pm eastern time.
