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13
Metro St. MSUD 22-8
14
Winner Regis RUBB 13-13
Metro St. MSUD
22-8
13
Final
14
Regis RUBB
13-13
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Metro St. MSUD 2 0 0 2 2 3 0 2 2 13 16 4
Regis RUBB 0 3 0 2 4 0 0 5 X 14 13 2

W: Ramil, Dom (1-3) L: Eric Cox (0-2) S: Deskin, Logan (2)

Vinnie LaGatta 3.25
Billy Saunders, Regis Athletics

Game Recap: Baseball | | David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

LaGatta drives in five, Rangers knock off rival MSU Denver in series finale

DENVER, Colo. — The Regis University baseball team grinded out a much-needed victory on Saturday in the fourth and final game of its series across crosstown rival Metropolitan State University of Denver, outslugging the No. 1 offense in Division II baseball to earn a 14-13 win at the Regis Baseball Field.

Regis (13-13 overall, 4-4 RMAC) cranked out the 14 runs on 13 hits, highlighted by a crucial five-run eighth inning against the Roadrunners (22-8 overall, 7-5 RMAC) First Team All-Region closer Eric Cox, to conclude its eight-game home stand in style.

"It was a tough weekend. That's a very good team in MSU Denver and they can really hit, but I was much happier with how we pitched and played defense (Saturday). We were in the zone more and challenging hitters," said Regis head baseball coach, Drew LaComb. "That's a big win that could really help us later down the road and I'm glad we could end the weekend on a positive note."

HOW IT HAPPENED: Saturday's series finale was another back-and-forth affair between the two RMAC rivals, with the game featuring seven ties and eight lead changes across the nine innings.

Sophomore second baseman Vinnie LaGatta delivered two crucial at-bats in the middle innings as the Rangers' leadoff man launched his second home run of 2023 in the fourth inning; a two-run shot deep to right that gave Regis a 5-4 lead at the time.

With his team trailing 6-5 in the fifth, LaGatta roped a laser into the left-center field gap for a three-run, bases clearing triple. LaGatta was able to celebrate all the way to home plate as the cut-off man's throw to third skipped into the Regis dugout for a run-scoring error, putting the Rangers back on top at 9-6.

"Those were two really big at-bats that Vinnie gave us. Our offense needed those runs," LaComb said of LaGatta, who finished 2-for-5 with a team-high five RBI Saturday. "I was really proud of how he bounced back for coming through for us in some pretty big moments."

The potent Roadrunners' offense wouldn't go away quietly, chipping away at the deficit to pull back even at 9-9 in the top of the sixth, and then taking an 11-9 lead in the top of the eighth.

Down to their final six outs, the Rangers' offense again erupted with a five-run eighth inning that included a two-run single from senior third baseman Colten Chase and Regis taking advantage of an error and wild pitch by the Roadrunners to recapture a 14-11 lead.

MSU Denver would again provide drama in the ninth as it scored two runs and placed the tying run at third with two outs, but Regis junior right-hander Logan Deskin was able to induce a swing and a miss from Roadrunners' third baseman Zach Pashke to defuse the threat and end the ballgame.

For Deskin, it was his second save of the spring while the win went to fellow right-hander Dom Ramil, who tossed 1.1 innings of relief, limiting MSU Denver to two runs, one earned, on just two hits.

"I thought Deskin was the right matchup for us there against that guy and we knew he was going to come in and compete hard," LaComb said. "Dom pitched really well for us (Saturday) and was maybe starting to get to his cap at that time, so we thought Logan was the guy to turn to for that final out."

GAME NOTES
  • Sophomore designated hitter Adam Paniagua continued his March hot streak, finishing 3-for-4 with a run scored. He now has hits in seven of the past nine games and three multi-hit games during that stretch.
  • Sophomore outfielder CJ Difiglia (2-for-5), junior catcher Austin Hamilton (2-for-3) and Chase (2-for-4) all added multi-hit games for Regis.
  • The two teams combined for 126 runs in the four-game series.
UP NEXT: The Rangers will head out on the road for another tough test as they square off against No. 24 ranked Colorado Mesa University, starting with Game One action on Friday, March 31 (6:05 p.m.).

"We didn't always get the results we wanted this weekend, but our bats are hot right. We put up a lot of runs and did a lot of good things, offensively, and we just want to keep that rolling because Colorado Mesa has another good pitching staff," LaComb said. "We need to clean up some things on the pitching side and play good defense. Hopefully we'll have a good week of practice and go out to Grand Junction and be better than we were this weekend."
 
 
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Scoring Summary

Score By Innings
Play MSUD RUBB
MSUD TOP 1st J. Williams hit by pitch, RBI (1-2); R. Smith advanced to second; T. Garner advanced to third; C. Schultz scored. 1 0
MSUD TOP 1st C. Yuran flied out to cf, SF, RBI (0-1); T. Garner scored. 2 0
RUBB BOT 2nd Fullerton lined out to cf, RBI (0-0); Levi Padilla advanced to third; Paniagua scored. 2 1
RUBB BOT 2nd Zach Daudet singled to left field, RBI (2-2); Hamilton advanced to second; Colten Chase advanced to third; Levi Padilla scored. 2 2
RUBB BOT 2nd Matt Marlow walked, RBI (3-2); Zach Daudet advanced to second; Hamilton advanced to third; Colten Chase scored. 2 3
MSUD TOP 4th C. Schultz singled to shortstop, RBI (3-2); Z. Paschke scored. 3 3
MSUD TOP 4th T. Garner doubled to center field, advanced to third on the throw, RBI (1-1); C. Schultz scored. 4 3
RUBB BOT 4th Lagatta homered to right field, 2 RBI (2-2); Hamilton scored. 4 5
MSUD TOP 5th Z. Schuler singled to right field, RBI (0-0); C. Yuran scored. 5 5
MSUD TOP 5th C. Stone doubled to center field, RBI (2-0); Z. Schuler scored. 6 5
RUBB BOT 5th Lagatta tripled, scored on an error by ss, 3 RBI, unearned (1-0); Hamilton scored; Fullerton scored; Colten Chase scored. 6 9
MSUD TOP 6th J. Williams singled to left field, 2 RBI (2-1); R. Smith scored; T. Garner scored. 8 9
MSUD TOP 6th C. Stone singled through the right side, RBI (1-1); Z. Schuler advanced to second; J. Williams scored. 9 9
MSUD TOP 8th C. Stone singled to right field, RBI (0-0); J. Barber advanced to third; J. Williams scored. 10 9
MSUD TOP 8th Schmeh singled through the right side, RBI (2-0); C. Stone advanced to second; J. Barber scored, unearned. 11 9
RUBB BOT 8th Johnson advanced to second; CJ Difiglia advanced to third; Matt Marlow scored on a wild pitch. 11 10
RUBB BOT 8th Colten Chase singled to right field, advanced to second on an error by rf, advanced to third, 2 RBI (0-0); Levi Padilla scored, unearned; Johnson scored; CJ Difiglia scored. 11 13
RUBB BOT 8th Colten Chase scored on a wild pitch. 11 14
MSUD TOP 9th J. Barber advanced to second; C. Yuran advanced to third; J. Williams scored on a wild pitch. 12 14
MSUD TOP 9th C. Stone flied out to cf, SF, RBI (3-1); J. Barber advanced to third; C. Yuran scored, unearned. 13 14

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