Nationally top-ranked Colorado Mesa baseball crept closer to being crowned the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division II South Central Regional champion Friday with a 15-9 win over 22nd-ranked St. Mary’s under the lights at The Diamond at Hamilton Ballpark.
After each defeating Lubbock Christian on day one of the regional tournament, the Mavericks and the visiting Rattlers begun a de facto best-of-three series Friday evening to determine who would advance to next weekend’s super regional. But before the first pitch of the three-game set was thrown, the Mavericks were dealt a tough blow: star outfielder Kolby Felix, who was removed from Thursday evening’s contest after sliding awkwardly, would be unavailable for the night’s contest with a hand injury.
Even without Felix’s talented bat at the top of their lineup, the Mavericks generated power throughout Friday’s contest, however. Two unlikely subjects picked up the mantel in the six-run win: senior shortstop Kennedy Hara and senior first baseman Landon Nunes.
Hara, a native of Aiea, Hawaii, stands at just 5-8 and 190 pounds. More of a speed threat than a power hitter, Hara entered Friday’s contest with 19 doubles, second on the team only to Felix, but just three home runs. The senior added to both totals in the win.
In the third inning, the shortstop connected on a pitch he liked and drove it a projected 415 feet over the wall in deep left center field, temporarily tying the contest at 6 with the two-run shot. In the fifth, he hit another two run shot, this time a projected 386 feet to left field to give his team the lead, 9-8. Hara later pitched in a one-out double in the eighth, moving teammate Cameron Cartwright into scoring position; he would later score, pushing the Mavericks’ lead to six runs.
“Honestly, I didn’t really do anything different from my normal routine,” Hara said on what had inspired his power outburst. “I got breakfast with my family. It’s great to have the family out, obviously, to support us!”
Nunes, meanwhile, had only five home runs across 46 appearances on the season for the Mavericks. But he, too, struck twice on Friday, hitting a longball in both the fourth and fifth innings of the victory.
“That had to have been my first two homer night since little league,” Nunes cracked postgame.
His fourth-inning shot was a sight to behold, a towering two-out solo home run hit at a 39 degree launch angle and traveling a projected 382 feet. But it was his second home run of the night which truly stuck out as the play of the game.
The first baseman stepped to the plate in the fifth inning, holding a hard-fought one-run lead and runners on first and third, and smacked a fly ball to deadaway center field. The signage on the center field wall at Hamilton Ballpark reads ‘400,’ representing a measured distance of 400 feet from home plate to the base of that part of the wall. Nunes’ fifth-inning fly was hit a projected 401 feet, hypothetically within robbery range of a capable defensive outfielder.
St. Mary’s center fielder Jacob King made a great read on the ball, and raced towards the center field wall. The senior outfielder leapt at the last second and pulled the ball in- temporarily. As soon as the ball entered the webbing of King’s glove, back out it popped, bounding directly over the fence for an improbable three-run home run.
Hara finished the day 3-5 with two runs scored and four runs batted in; Nunes, meanwhile, went 3-3 with three runs scored and six driven in.
“Everybody, one through nine, is going to be able to hit,” an unsurprised Nunes said postgame. “We know all the work we put in, all the practice builds up for this.”
Outside of an albatross third inning in which they surrendered five runs, Maverick pitching was sharp throughout Friday’s contest. Sophomore Justin Schramm earned his fourth win of the season, curbing the Rattlers’ five-run third inning rally and setting the table for the Maverick bats to claw back into the game. Later, Cayden Clark, Abe Ahlberg and Sage Ferguson combined to pitch the final four innings of the contest, allowing just one run close the door on any Rattler comeback efforts.
Entering the final day of the South Central regional, Colorado Mesa now needs just one win to clinch the tournament title. The Mavericks and Rattlers will square off oncemore at The Diamond at 3 p.m. Saturday. In the event of a Maverick win, it will be the only contest played Saturday; if the Rattlers pull off the upset, however, each team will meet again at 7 p.m., and the winner of the nightcap will be declared South Central Regional champion.
“We’re just trying to take it game by game,” Hara said postgame. “Inning by inning. I’m not too focused on what’s next, just enjoying the moment. I mean, you play in the present, right?”