FHSU Athletics
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Fort Hays State baseball team came out on top in a wild 18-12 win over the University of Colorado Colorado Springs on Sunday (Feb. 1), taking the season-opening series two games to one. The teams combined for 37 hits on the day, including 14 extra-base knocks.
For the third game in a row the Mountain Lions took an early lead by scoring in the bottom of the first, but a good relay throw from short stop Cooper Howell helped the Tigers gun down a runner attempting to score on an inside-the-park home run to limit the damage to one run.
After stranding a pair in the second, the Tiger bats came to life in the top of the third when Erick Ordonez clubbed his first home run of the season to drive in a pair. Derek Woolwine followed with an RBI double later in the inning before Dylan Salcido also homered, putting FHSU in front 5-1.
Tiger starter Brett Jacobs did a good job of working out of trouble, stranding a pair in the second and third innings before giving up one run and leaving the bases loaded in the fourth. UCCS pushed across a pair of runs off reliever Caleb Camp in the bottom of the fifth before the Tigers hung another crooked number in the top of the sixth.
Fort Hays State manufactured four runs off three singles, three walks and a sacrifice bunt, turning a 5-4 lead into a 9-4 advantage. A solo home run in the next half inning made it a four-run game before Tucker Russell came on to get out of the inning without further damage.
The Tigers kept things rolling in the seventh, scoring seven runs after sending 11 men to the plate. Three walks and a beaned batter pushed across the first run before Woolwine drove in a pair with a single up the middle. Howell added a two-RBI double later in the frame followed by a sacrifice fly from Garretson Cook. Tyson Jimenez drove in the final run with a single to give FHSU an 11-run lead, 16-5.
UCCS avoided the run rule with three runs in the seventh before a Woolwine two-run home run in the top of the eighth again stretched the lead to double digits, 18-8. The Mountain Lions scraped together three more runs to send the game to the ninth where UCCS hit its fourth home run of the game, but the solo shot wasn't enough to erase the deficit.
Woolwine finished the day 4-for-5 at the plate with three runs, five RBI and one walk. The senior first baseman turned in an eye-popping .833 batting average for the weekend, going 10-for-12 with seven extra-base hits, four doubles, three home runs, seven runs and 10 RBI.
Cook, Ordonez, Salcido and Tony Moore all had two hits on the day, while Jimenez was walked four times and scored three runs.
Jacobs struck out four in 4.0 innings of work, allowing two runs on seven hits. Camp struck out a pair in 1.0-plus innings of relief, while Burke Sharpsteen earned the win after allowing just one run in the final 1.1 innings of work.
The Tigers will be on the road again next week when they head to Arkadelphia, Ark. for the Henderson State Invitational. FHSU will first play at Ouachita Baptist on Friday (Feb. 6) beginning at 1 p.m.