Solid All Around Game Gives @NCBearsBaseball the Win Thursday Night

Thursday, April 2

Las Cruces, N.M.

6:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

7-16, 4-3

New Mexico State

4-22-1, 1-5-1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Northern Colorado	3	1	0	0	2	1	0	1	2	10	17	0
New Mexico State	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	6	4

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

4/2/2015 10:11:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Behind lots of hits and strong pitching UNC baseball snapped it's five game losing streak at New Mexico State

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Northern Colorado baseball hit its way out of a five-game losing streak on Thursday night, defeating New Mexico State 10-4 at the Aggies home park.

The Bears (7-16, 4-3 WAC) out hit NMSU (4-22-1, 1-5-1 WAC) 17-6, led by the return of senior outfielder Jensen Park (Kaneohe, Hawaii) from a shoulder injury.

Park went 3-6 with three runs. He was joined by fellow Hawaiian Reyn Sugai (Honolulu, Hawaii) in making six trips to the plate. Sugai went 4-6 raising his
season average to .424, scoring twice and driving home a run.

It was not just the Bears hitting that did all of the work tonight, but their pitching as well. Starter Spencer Applebach (Chandler, Ariz.) earned his second win of
the season going six strong innings allowing four runs on five hits and no walks while striking out six.

"Tonight's game was our best game overall this season," head coach Carl Iwasaki said. "We played well in all three facets of the game."

Both teams' offenses came out hot in the first inning with each scoring three runs. The Bears got the game started with back-to-back hits from Sugai and Park to put runners on second and third. A wild pitch scored Sugai, and then Payton Tapia (Fort Collins, Colo.) singled to drive in Park. Tapia later scored in the inning to give UNC the early 3-0 lead.

Tapia was another Bear with solid numbers at the plate going 1-4 with a walk, a hit by pitch, and scoring three times while driving in two more.

New Mexico State answered UNC's quick start with three runs of their own in the bottom first. They did so with a pair of home runs. Joseph Koerper hit the first, a two-run shot and was soon followed by Brent Hermanussen with a solo home run to tie the game.

Northern Colorado regained the lead in the top of the second though and never relinquished it. Park doubled with two outs and on the next at bat Brandon Vaughn (Louisville, Colo.) brought him home with an RBI single.

That would be the first of Vaughn's two RBI in the game as he went 2-6.

Applebach rebounded after the two early home runs in the first retiring the next 10 batters in a row and faced the minimum in the second through fifth innings as UNC tacked on two more runs in the fifth to make it a 6-3 game.

Northern Colorado plated four more insurance runs in the final four innings, while NMSU added just one. Allen Cook (Friendswood, Texas) relieved Applebach in the seventh inning with the score at 7-4, and closed out the final three innings to earn his first career save.

Cook didn't make the save easy on himself though. With an 8-4 lead going to the bottom of the eighth, Cook had to work himself out of a two out, two on situation. He got Hermanussen to ground into a fielder's choice to end the inning preserving the Northern Colorado victory.

"We will have to keep this momentum going tomorrow and pick up another WAC win," Iwasaki said. "Ever conference game is very important and tomorrow is just another step in the journey of our season."

The teams will square off again tomorrow evening at 6:00 p.m. for game two of their three game series. The Bears will throw Alex Warbach (Brighton, Colo.) against NMSU's Matt Loeffler.