The Colorado State baseball team struck themselves into first place in Wednesday night’s double header against Boulder. They swept the Buffaloes 6-5 and then 13-12, going into the coming weekend against UNC with fire.
Although the Rams were expecting the Buffs to put up a good fight, as they usually do against their biggest rival, they were not expecting such a narrow margin of victory.
“These guys came out and swung the bat really well and we expected them to come out hot,” catcher Brett Bogner said. “Fortunately we came out hotter. And, it was awesome, because it prepares us for the World Series — with that have-to-win mentality.”
For the spectators and certainly some of the players, it was a night full of nail biting and trading leads. Colorado came out hard in the first inning, batting in two runs. By the third, CU was up 5-3, and CSU head coach Nick Childs decided to pull pitcher Travis Childs.
By most standards, that was an early decision, but coach Childs said it was all part of the plan. He didn’t want to strain any one pitcher with the big weekend against the UNC Bears looming.
“We were planning on getting three, maybe four innings out of the starter,” Childs said. “I would have preferred him to get that last out, but he had to throw some extra pitches with the errors behind him.”
While there was some sloppiness on both sides — throwing out at first for CSU and wild pitches for CU — the night was also full of success.
Bogner slammed home his first two home runs of the season, the injured Brad Spies won the first game off of a sacrifice fly and closing pitcher Alex Marshall struck out the final batter looking in the second game.
“He was huge for us today, he helped us win both games,” hitting coach Brian Dilley said of Bogner. “He finally got some things worked out in his swing and it showed today. This is playoff baseball already — the guys know — we have to win every game, so guys are coming out with that attitude that any game could send us home.”
The squad heads to Greeley this weekend for a four-game stint. In order to clinch their playoff berth, they will have to come out on top of that series as well.
Collegian Reporter Cali Rastrelli can be reached at sports@collegian.com and on Twitter @c_rasta5.
