Leach extends hit streak but Bears drop two against Aggies

Saturday, March 20

Las Cruces, NM

University of Northern Colorado

4-14, 0

New Mexico State University

8-7, 0

Northern Colorado

New Mexico State

3/20/2021 8:11:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: By Thomas Hoffman, UNCBears.com

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Northern Colorado's Sam Leach put in a workman's-like effort on Saturday on the field, on the mound and at the plate but it wasn't enough to overcome the New Mexico State offense as the Aggies took both contests.

The Bears' two-way player Sam Leach started strong on the bump.

In the first two innings, Leach spun a gem, surrendering just one hit. Even when the Aggies did reach base in the second inning, the righty forced New Mexico State into a double play.

Leach pitched 5.2 innings, striking out two.

Slowly, NMSU started chipping away at Leach and crept out to a small lead.

The Aggies pushed across one run in the third, one in the fourth, two in the fifth and two in the sixth. With no run support arriving for Leach, the first win of the day went the Aggies Way.

Northern Colorado wasted no time putting up numbers on the scoreboard to begin the second game of the day.

Three straight singles from Josh Glenn, Johnny Graham and Aiden Leahy pushed two runs across.

New Mexico State answered swiftly. Four runs on four hits let the Aggies leapfrog back into the lead.

The Bears added a third run thanks to some nifty baserunning from Carson Gross, capitalizing on an NMSU error.

Matt Burkart's bat continues to stay hot. In the top of the fourth inning, his second solo shot of the series brought UNC back within three.

Persistent pressure from the home side proved to be too much to hand for the Bears' pitching staff. Picking up two runs in the third inning, two in the fourth, four in the fifth and one apiece in the sixth and seventh, the Aggies had a commanding advantage.

Ben Mckay and Sam Leach weren't about to give up, however. McKay connected for his second home run of the season and Sam Leach's RBI-double solidified his 15-game hit streak.

Even Matt Burkart wasn't done flexing his muscles, hammering his third solo home run of the series in the eighth inning.

Game Notes

Sam Leach extended his hitting streak to 14 games in the first contest and made it 15-straight with an RBI double in the second game.
Daylon Matthews struck out the only batter he saw.
Matt Burkart collected his second solo home run of the series.
Ben McKay finished a triple shy of the cycle in the second game of the day.

What's Ahead
The Bears and Aggies will go at it one more time tomorrow. The final game of the series is set for noon MT.

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