MESA, Ariz. – College of Idaho dropped the middle games of a season-opening four-game set at Benedictine Mesa, falling 14-3 and 9-4 at Red Mountain Baseball Complex.
GAME 1 – The Redhawks (4-1) jumped out to an 11-0 lead after two innings, while starter Ivan Torres struck out nine batters in five innings for the win.
Ben-U scored eight first inning runs – including five with 2-out in the inning, with Rylie Velez capping the frame with a bases-clearing double.
The Yotes (1-2) got on the board in the third inning, as
Matthew Clay scored on a wild pitch, with Clay driving in a pair of seventh inning runs with a double.
Chase Labbe went 2-for-3 in the loss, with
Dalton Strong tossing a career-high 3-plus innings of relief – striking out three.
GAME 2 – C of I got a dominant start from
Hunter Boyd and built a 4-0 lead, but Ben-U used a 6-run fifth inning and three home runs to rally for the win.
Clay opened the scoring in the first with a long solo homer, adding a 3-run third inning – as
Alec Hopkins homered, with the Yotes scoring a run on a Redhawks error and a
Dylan Mansanarez RBI single. Boyd retired 12 of the 13 men he faced, allowing no hits, one walk and striking out four – but the C of I pen could not hold the advantage.
Ben-U batted around in the fifth, as Michael Avilucea and Shawn Barrowdale each hit 2-run homers – the latter giving the Redhawks the lead. The hosts added to the lead on a 3-run Travis Hunt bomb in the eighth.
Eight different Coyotes had one hit, with
Austin Van Horne tossing two shutout innings of relief. Kyle Huckaby earned the win for BenU, allowing just one hit and striking out six in four innings of relief.
The two teams close out the weekend series tomorrow with an 11 a.m. single game.
