Foxes hand Colts first loss

by Bobby Abplanalp
Wyoming Sports.org

The Laramie Colts returned home for the first time in a week to take on the rival Fort Collins Foxes in Mountain Collegiate Baseball League (MCBL) action Saturday at Cowboy Field.

The Colts homecoming was bittersweet, as they fell to the Foxes 11-5, falling to 2-1 on the season. Fort Collins improves to 2-2.

The Colts never led in the contest. The game was tied 1-1 after the first inning, but it was all Fort Collins after that as the Foxes would score 10 unanswered runs to lead 11-1 heading into the seventh. The scoring spurt by Fort Collins was highlighted with a two-run homer over the left field wall by short stop Edder Morales in the sixth-inning, making the score 10-1.

Colts manager Ryan Goodwin was very displeased with the outcome of the game as he was ejected after the fifth inning for arguing an umpire's call.

“I don’t know if we were too high on our horse or too cocky,” said Goodwin. “We came out very lackadaisical going through the motions and that carried over to the game, and that really set a lot of things in motion tonight. I’m not pleased with the effort we gave tonight; we’re a better ball club then that.”

The Colts trailed 11-3 going into the ninth and would try to rally as in fielder Eric Krznaric hit a two-run single to cut the lead to 11-5, but that was as close as Laramie would get.

Fort Collins pitcher Jared Hopper allowed two runs and three hits for seven strikeouts through seven innings.

“He was all right. He did an OK job,” Laramie center fielder Josh Warren said of Hopper. “He threw a lot of strikes, but that’s a guy we should hit; I mean this (the Colts) is a really good hitting team, we just came out flat tonight.”

The Colts do not have much time to dwell on this loss, because they have to suit up and play a doubleheader against the same team on Sunday in Fort Collins.

“We going to try and get focused right from the start,” Warren said. “We can’t come out and get in a hole like we did today. We got to have pitching come out and pound the ball and we’re going to have to make plays behind them.”

“I still believe we’re the most talented team despite what that scoreboard said tonight,” Goodwin said. “Hopefully, I think it’s a wake up call for our guys, because we came out from that layoff believing too much that we were the best team and forgot, ‘hey we still need to go prove it,’ so that’s why I’m hoping our guys will go home and take a good look in the mirror.”

The Colts will see a lot of the Foxes over the next couple days as they will meet in Fort Collins, Colo., Sunday to begin a doubleheader at 1 p.m. The Foxes will travel back to Laramie on Monday to play a makeup game beginning at 6:35 p.m.