Pack comes tumbling back to earth, splits series with Kearney
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Nebraska-Kearney 25, CSU-Pueblo 11
Nebraska-Kearney 6, CSU-Pueblo
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By Ryan Kaufman
In his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." For
the Thunderwolves this weekend, those words could not be more true.
On Saturday, just one day after sweeping a double-header from
Nebraska-Kearney, the Thunderwolves dropped both games against the
Lopers.
In the first game, Kearney took out all their frustrations from the previous day on CSU-Pueblo pitching. Thunderwolves starter Joe Proto gave up six runs in the 2nd inning as the Lopers batted around. After that he settled down, throwing back-to-back shutout innings. During that time, Proto allowed his team to get back into the game. The Thunderwolves cut the Lopers lead in half heading into the 5th inning. Unfortunately, the next inning ended CSU-Pueblo's hope of winning this game.
After the Thunderwolves scratched across a run in the bottom of the 5th to bring the deficit down to three, they turned their hopes to the bullpen. Those hopes were dashed in the form of an 11-run 6th inning for Kearney. In the last three innings, the Pack was even with the Lopers with five runs apiece but the damage was done. Nebraska-Kearney won decisively 25-11. The 25 runs match the biggest scoring output for a Thunderwolves opponent in their history. The Utah Utes put up 25 on the Pack on March 26th, 1998. The Pack lost that game as well, 25-19.
"It didn't matter what we threw up there," Coach Stan Sanchez said. "They hit it."
After that embarrassing loss in the opening game, Coach Sanchez wanted to send a message to his pitchers that they needed to step up. He sent that message early in game two, yanking starter Jesus Hernandez after just five batters. By that time, Coach Sanchez had seen enough.
"It was his [Hernandez] first start and he's had some command problems," Sanchez said. "When he struggled and hit that kid that was it." Hernandez had given up a couple of runs and had the bases loaded.
Sanchez then brought Chris Garcia out of the bullpen to try to mop up from Hernandez' struggling start.
"We knew we had Chris [Garcia] behind him and he did what he did," Sanchez said.
What Chris Garcia did was throw a gem. He gave up just two runs in seven innings of work.
With the pitching situation nailed down, it was the CSU-Pueblo hitters that needed a wake-up call. They got it in the 3rd inning in the form of Johnny Zepeda's second home run of the season. The Thunderwolves plated three in that inning to cut the Loper lead to just two.
Then the bats went back to sleep for the home team. A Thomas Cordova single in the 5th was the only offense the Pack would muster up the rest of the game. The Lopers added an insurance run in the top of the 7th to lock up a 6-3 victory.
"We didn't lose the series, but we lost an opportunity to get a hold of the division," said Coach Sanchez. "If we can't pitch we're not going to be contenders."
The Thunderwolves are now 9-5 overall, more importantly they are just 2-2 in RMAC play. CSU-Pueblo now hopes the rest of the season will be the best of times, starting with a double-header against Metro State on March 4. The first game of that twin-bill will be at 3 p.m. at Rawlings Field.
