Colorado Buffaloes club baseball split its home-opening doubleheader Saturday against the visiting Metropolitan State Roadrunners, winning the first game 8-3 and dropping the second 8-2.
Colorado handily beat Metro State in the first game at Scott Carpenter Park. A towering first-inning home run from sophomore Luca Genovese went off the foul pole in right field to start the scoring for the Buffs. Later in the inning, a roped line drive single from freshman Charlie Lesch brought home two more to quickly make the score 3-0. The Buffs offense made Roadrunners starting pitcher Emanuel Nuñez throw 40 pitches in the bottom of the first.
After the Roadrunners got a run back in the second, the Buffs held on to a two-run lead until the fourth inning, when a hard ground ball by J.C. Rodriguez went up the middle for a two-RBI single, tying the game. The tie did not last for long before Lesch capitalized with the bases loaded in the fifth, sending a fly ball deep to center field for a sacrifice fly to make it 4-3.
Three runs were all junior pitcher Will Shine allowed on the day. His commanding fastball led the way, efficiently carving through MSU’s lineup. His teammates gave him plenty of run support, as RBI doubles from Will Gworek and Andrew Garcia helped the Buffs blow the game open in the sixth inning.
Will Shine stayed on the mound for all seven innings of Game 1. He completed his stellar day on the bump with an electrifying strikeout, giving a cutthroat gesture to his dugout in celebration of the complete game. Shine only needed 74 pitches to do it, too.
Colorado was not as dominant in the second game, with several outcomes being the opposite of the first. As the sun went down on Scott Carpenter Park, the Buffs struggled to keep MSU off the scoreboard. Metro State forced CU to start the pitching carousel after starting pitcher Victor Moreno’s day ended in the second inning. The sophomore gave up three runs before being replaced, and the relief pitchers couldn’t hold it down. The Roadrunners put up eight runs in Game 2.
The Buffaloes struggled to muster anything offensively against Roadrunners pitcher Leo Boberschmidt. Only a wild pitch in the second and a pinch-hit sacrifice fly from Nathan Tunks in the seventh spoke for the Buffs’ two runs. Boberschmidt had a complete day of his own, forcing weak contact across the CU lineup and claiming eight strikeouts along the way.
Metropolitan State blew out the Buffaloes in the second game of the doubleheader, 8-2, ending the day with one blowout win for each club.
Colorado moves to 2-4 on the young season. The Buffs and Roadrunners will face off one more time in Boulder to decide the series on Sunday at noon MT.
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