Colts fall to Foxes, drop second straight

by Bobby Abplanalp
Wyoming Sports.org

The Laramie Colts have yet to shake the cobwebs of the end of a recent six-game winning streak, as last place Fort Collins rolled to an 11-5 win Monday night at Cowboy Field.

It was a windy and cold night at the ballpark, and Colts first baseman Casey Martin refused to use the weather as an excuse.

“Actually, we did a pretty good job with it,” Martin said of the wind. “It was definitely a factor, but the wind was blowing for them (Fort Collins) too, so you can’t blame it (the loss) on that.”

Laramie, 22-19, has now lost two straight, including a humbling 17-5 defeat to the league-leading Cheyenne Grizzlies 17-5 in Cheyenne Sunday night.

The Colts remain in second place of the Mountain Collegiate Baseball League standings, but are running out of time to catch the Grizzlies.

Meanwhile, Fort Collins has now won three straight and is making a late playoff push.

The Foxes got off to a quick start scoring in four of the first five innings, jumping all over the Colts for an 8-0 lead.

Laramie did not get anything going until the bottom of the fourth inning when a throwing error by Fort Collins shortstop Josh Lopez allowed Colts first baseman Casey Martin to safely reach first, scoring two runs.

Colts center fielder Lee Orr hit a double in the fifth and would later score off a wild pitch to cut the lead to 8-3.

Fort Collins answered in the top of the seventh with three runs to make it 11-3.

Laramie would try to rally in the eighth when Martin scored off a sacrifice fly hit by second baseman Eric Cain, followed by an RBI single scoring third baseman Eric Krznaric. That would be as close as the Colts would get, as they fell to 2-4 against the Foxes at home this season.

“We missed a lot of opportunities tonight. We had some guys on base and we left them out there,” Martin said. “I think that’s the big thing; we get guys on base, especially in scoring position with less than two outs, you know, we got to get those guys in. We had the bases loaded a couple times today.”

Colts manager Ryan Goodwin was unavailable for comment.

The two teams will meet again Tuesday night at Cowboy Field, beginning at 6:35 p.m.