@NCBearsBaseball Defeats Top Seed New Mexico State 5-4

Thursday, May 25

Mesa, Ariz.

8:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

24-28

New Mexico State

35-21

Northern Colorado

NM State

5/26/2017 1:09:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Northern Colorado baseball improved to 2-0 in the WAC tournament with a 5-4 win over NMSU

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

MESA, Ariz. - Northern Colorado baseball improved to 2-0 in the WAC Tournament Thursday night taking down top seed New Mexico State 5-4.

How It Happened
After falling quiet in the final five innings of yesterday's game, UNC's bats were wide awake in the first inning. Nick Tanner started the game with a single to left center, before Alex Kiel continued his strong tournament drawing a walk. Jack Pauley drove home the first run of the game, roping a double down the right field line scoring Tanner. Cole Maltese didn't waste much time making it a 2-0 as he sent a hard hit ball through the left side. The first out of the game didn't come until Brett Minnick hit a sacrifice fly to bring in the third UNC run of the inning.

The 3-0 deficit didn't scare New Mexico State as they came right back at the Bears. Brent Sakari, LJ Hatch and Austin Botello had a single, double, single to make it a 3-2 game.

Following the offensive first, both pitchers settled into the game, putting up zeros in the second and third inning.

The Aggies tied the game in the fourth, when the Bears were unable to make a play to get out of the inning. Joey Ortiz drove home the tying run when Cole Maltese was unable to make a throw to either first or second on the fielder's choice.

Both Aaron Hamilton and Kyle Bradish worked an efficient fifth, before Northern Colorado reclaimed the lead in the sixth. It all started when Brett Minnick walked and Evan Johnson was hit by a pitch in the first two at-bats. Corey Nakakura then laid down a nice sacrifice bunt, that turned into a single as Bradish was unable to make the play on it on the third base side of the mound. Dean Lawson drove home the go-ahead run with his sacrifice fly to right field advancing both Minnick and Johnson. On his final pitch of the game, Bradish walked Tyler Yamaguchi on a wild pitch that scored Johnson pushing the lead to 5-3.

After coming in and getting out of a jam for the team in the sixth, Connor Leedholm ran into some trouble in the seventh as NMSU used a single, walk and double to pull within one with one out in the inning. Dylan Shiraki relieved Leedholm at that point, seeing the bases load up, but then getting a strike out and fly out to right to get UNC out of the situation.

Following a leadoff single by Austin Botello of New Mexico, Jacob Howard came into the game for Northern Colorado in the ninth. He walked the first batter he faced, and then the the team loaded the bases after a sacrifice bunt. Howard ended the game with back-to-back strike outs securing the 5-4 win.

Game Changer
Kids dream about it all their lives being on the mound in a key situation late in the game, but Jacob Howard lived it Thursday night. The righty for UNC faced a bases loaded one out situation and Northern Colorado leading by one in the bottom of the ninth. He got the final two outs for the team with back-to-back strikeouts.

Notable
- Nick Tanner extended his hit streak to 14 games. He was 2-for-5 in the game with a pair of singles, scoring once.
- Starter Aaron Hamilton had a strong outing for Northern Colorado going 5.2 innings allowing three runs, two of them earned on six hits. He struck out seven Aggies, and walked just two in the win.
- Northern Colorado pitching stranded 13 New Mexico State hitters in the game compared to eight for UNC.

Quotable
Head Coach Carl Iwasaki
"It was a great win for the program tonight. It was a gritty team effort that started with Aaron Hamilton on the mound for us and then senior Jacob Howard being the right guy at the right time to get the final outs for us. We are not done yet though, we have another game tomorrow night and we have to focus on that, one game at a time."

What's Next
UNC moves onto the semifinals of the tournament playing Sacramento State who is also 2-0 in it. The Bears and Hornets are set for an 8 pm MT first pitch.