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Regis University Athletics

Home of the Regis University Rangers
3
Regis RUBB 31-24
21
Winner Colorado Mesa CMU 45-9
Regis RUBB
31-24
3
Final
21
Colorado Mesa CMU
45-9
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Regis RUBB 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 5 1
Colorado Mesa CMU 1 9 1 6 0 2 2 0 X 21 21 0

W: Liam Hohenstein (8-0) L: Ashcraft, Mason (6-3)

Home plate celebration
Serena Ileleji, Colorado Mesa Athletics

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

Rangers fall to No. 1 ranked Colorado Mesa in RMAC Tournament championship, cap sensational 2023 season

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The Regis University baseball team, under the direction of fourth-year head coach Drew LaComb, cleared a new hurdle Saturday as the team took the field in the RMAC Tournament title game for the first time since the program won it all in 2012.

Regis staved off two elimination games Friday to punch its ticket to Saturday's RMAC championship game against hosts and No. 1 ranked Colorado.

Unfortunately, the No. 3 seeded Rangers fell just shy of their ultimate goal as the top-ranked Mavericks won the title game, 21-3, at The Diamond in Grand Junction.

The Rangers finish 2023 with a 31-24 overall record, with the 31 wins representing the fourth most for a single season in program history.

"Overall, I'm just proud and happy for our guys with how they competed this season and in this tournament. They played hard pitch-to-pitch, inning-by-inning and they played for each other, which was really cool to see the team chemistry this week," LaComb said. "I saw zero selfishness and saw a bunch of guys doing everything that could to help the team win."

HOW IT HAPPENED: The Rangers' lineup, which put up 31 runs across two games Friday, was able to get on the board early as sophomore shortstop Zach Daudet led off the game with a hit-by-pitch and came around to score four batters later on a RBI single from fellow sophomore CJ Difiglia.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, the lead was short lived as the Mavericks, who went undefeated on the week and were coming off a 20-10 thumping of MSU Denver, tied the score at 1-1 in the first and then blew the game open with a nine-run second inning.

Regis would receive a sacrifice fly from junior outfielder Levi Padilla in the fourth, and a RBI single by Daudet in the sixth — his 11th hit (11-for-22) of the tournament — but were unable to string any big innings against CMU starter Liam Hohenstein.

"Colorado Mesa came out fresh and healthy, had a very good arm on the mound and got ahead of us early to kind of put us in a bad position from the start," LaComb said. "We kind of ran into a buzzsaw, facing a very good team with a very good arm on the mound and the best offense in the country. We were a little fatigued and low on pitching from the two games the day before, but we just give a ton of credit to Colorado Mesa. They're a very good ballclub with the chance to go far this year."

SEASON NOTES:
  • The Rangers scored 51 runs in the tournament, finishing the season with 517 runs scored and 462 runs batted in; new program single-season records.
  • The 31 wins for Regis were the most single the 2012 team went 33-23.
  • Regis tied the 2004 team with the longest winning streak (13 games) from April 6th-28th.
IMPACT SENIOR CLASS
LaComb pointed to the impact of the 2023 senior class — Michael May, Colten Chase, Austin Vaught, Cam Blossom, Patrick Kennedy, Zach Harstad, Luke Luebker and Porter Hardcastle — as key figures in turning around the Regis baseball program.

"Our entire senior class, the impact they've made anywhere between their 2-5 years with us, has been unbelievable. I was telling our guys earlier that where we were as a program four years ago versus where we are today is immensely different and it is because of that group," LaComb said. "They were the catalysts to help make change happen. There's some good baseball players we're going to miss, but I think the people we have in our senior class is going to be hard to replace."

RMAC All-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Regis had a trio of sophomore earn RMAC All-Tournament team in honors in Zach Daudet, pitcher Blake Shepardson and catcher/DH Adam Paniagua.

BRIGHT FUTURE
The Rangers are poised to be a very competitive team again in 2024. Regis currently has 36 underclassmen or returning players on the roster, including 15 players who saw time in Saturday's RMAC Tournament championship game.

"We had a lot of younger guys who were important pieces for us all year and for them to experience the postseason like this, advance to the conference championship game, is huge because the expectations will be to get back here again next year," LaComb said. "I think we'll have a lot of guys coming back who will have that experience and it'll be important for us."
 
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Scoring Summary

Score By Innings
Play RUBB CMU
RUBB TOP 1st CJ Difiglia singled up the middle, RBI (2-2 BSBSF); Colten Chase advanced to third; Zach Daudet scored. 1 0
CMU BOT 1st Villafuerte doubled to right center, RBI (0-0); J. Boyd scored. 1 1
CMU BOT 2nd J. Gonzalez singled up the middle, RBI (0-1 K); D. Wiesner advanced to second; K. Hara scored. 1 2
CMU BOT 2nd R. Sharrar singled through the left side, RBI (0-0); J. Gonzalez advanced to second; D. Wiesner scored. 1 3
CMU BOT 2nd Villafuerte reached on a fielder's choice, RBI (0-1 K); J. Boyd advanced to second on an error by 2b, assist by ss; R. Sharrar advanced to third; J. Gonzalez scored. 1 4
CMU BOT 2nd S. Reynolds homered to center field, 4 RBI (0-0); Villafuerte scored; J. Boyd scored, unearned; R. Sharrar scored. 1 8
CMU BOT 2nd C. Thomason grounded out to 1b unassisted, RBI (3-1 BKBB); K. Hara advanced to third; H. Rodgers scored, unearned. 1 9
CMU BOT 2nd D. Wiesner singled through the left side, out at second lf to 2b, RBI (1-1 KB); K. Hara scored, unearned. 1 10
CMU BOT 3rd S. Reynolds singled up the middle, RBI (3-1 BBKB); Villafuerte advanced to second; J. Boyd scored. 1 11
RUBB TOP 4th Levi Padilla flied out to cf, SF, RBI (1-2 KBK); Colten Chase scored. 2 11
CMU BOT 4th C. Thomason homered to right field, 2 RBI (2-2 KKBB); K. Hara scored. 2 13
CMU BOT 4th J. Gonzalez doubled down the lf line, RBI (0-1 K); D. Wiesner scored. 2 14
CMU BOT 4th R. Sharrar singled to center field, RBI (1-2 FFB); J. Gonzalez scored. 2 15
CMU BOT 4th Villafuerte homered inside the park, 2 RBI (3-2 BBSBS); J. Boyd scored. 2 17
RUBB TOP 6th Zach Daudet singled through the left side, RBI (3-2 KFFBBB); Hamilton advanced to second; Joey Cicini scored. 3 17
CMU BOT 6th M. Valdez singled to left field, 2 RBI (1-1 BS); K. Hara advanced to second; Schoenfeld scored; B. Renteria scored. 3 19
CMU BOT 7th B. Renteria homered to left field, RBI (1-2 SFB). 3 20
CMU BOT 7th Schoenfeld homered to right field, RBI (1-0 B). 3 21

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