By Patrick Carey
CSU-Pueblo’s Baseball team defeated Colorado School of Mines twice in a double header Saturday afternoon.
With both those wins the baseball team was able to help Coach Stan Sanchez reach a big milestone netting him his 600th win as CSU-Pueblo’s baseball coach.
“It is a special accomplishment, it’s about the program, about the team, a lot of great kids have been through this program,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez has been coaching the program since 1994 when they reinstated the baseball team. Since then he has made CSU-Pueblo’s baseball team one of the top teams in division II taking the Pack to the College World Series in 1996.
Both wins were hard fought for the Pack as the games came down to wire. CSU-Pueblo defeated Colorado School of Mines by a score of 4-3 and 13-9.
In the first game the Pack came out strong scoring their only four runs in the first three innings. With the help of pitcher Cole Stephens, the Pack was able to control most of the game. Stephens had eight strikeouts and three earned runs in six innings.
Mines tried a late comeback in the ninth inning, with two outs and a runner on third the batter hit a groundout to seal the win for the Pack.
In the second game CSU-Pueblo came out strong again in the early innings to get a big lead. The Pack scored nine of their 13 runs in the first three innings and had a seven of those runs in the third. They continued to build on their lead scoring two runs each in the fifth and sixth inning.
The Pack was up 13-4 going into the seventh inning when Mines tried to mount a late comeback. Mines ended up scoring five runs but it wasn’t enough to defeat the Pack.
“I was excited to get the opportunity to start; I was able to make the most of it,” Chase Lacomb said.
In those two wins second basemen Lacomb who had not started for the team this whole season had five RBIs. Lacomb came up big for the team in the second game hitting a three-run triple to help the Pack break away in the third inning.
Lacomb got the start after the team’s third basemen got hurt. The team had to make changes in the lineup moving the shortstop to third base, the second basemen to shortstop and putting Lacomb in at second base.
