Grays rally from nine down to shock Colts

by Bobby Abplanalp
Wyoming Sports.org

The Laramie Colts appeared to be getting back to their winning ways, but 16 unanswered runs by the first-place Greeley Grays told a different tale, as they came back from a 10-1 deficit to beat the Colts 17-11 Thursday at Cowboy Field.

Laramie, 16-17, continued its inconsistent play and failed to get within a half game of Greeley, 15-12, for first place in the Mountain Collegiate Baseball League standings.

The Colts would strike first blood when first baseman Casey Martin, who was 4-for-6, brought center fielder Josh Warren and third baseman Eric DeJong home with a double for a 2-0 lead after one inning.

Greeley would come back in the top of the second inning, as right fielder Kyle Eck smacked an RBI triple to the right field wall to make it 2-1.

Laramie jumped all over Grays starting pitcher Kyle Mack, erupting for five hits that scored six runs and RBIs to increase its lead to 8-1 after the second inning.

Mack was relieved after the second by Troy Brown, but the Colts continued their hitting onslaught, as they had 18 in the game.

“We hit the ball today, but not as well as we needed too,” Martin said.

DeJong hit his second home run in the last four games, belting a solo shot over the left center field wall, and second baseman Lucas Calderon got his first hit with an RBI double, which upped the Colts lead to 10-1 after three innings.

However, the Grays would rally in the top of the fourth inning, as they started to wear down Colts pitcher Branden Jamison, getting three hits off of him, one of which was a two-run single hit by second baseman Nick Huckaby. An RBI walk and a wild pitch resulted in two more runs for the Grays, which cut Laramie’s lead to 10-5 after four innings.

Marco Mejia relieved Jamison in the top of the fifth inning with runners on first and third base with no outs. Mejia would close out the inning, but not before giving up two runs (which were charged to Jamison) to Eck and Patrick Roche.

Martin would single in the bottom of the fifth, but that would be all the Colts would get, as the momentum shifted to Greeley.

The Grays would keep chipping away and tie things up 10-10 off of a costly error by Mejia, as his throw to third base sailed wide left of DeJong, which allowed two runs two come in. Brock Guetzke would relieve Mejia during the top of the seventh inning, but he struggled like the rest of the Colts pitching staff and the Grays would turn the tables on the Colts for a seven runs in the inning to take a 14-10 lead.

“What hurt today a lot was Blake (Treinen, the Colts starting pitcher) went down with a thumb injury or something in the first inning,” Martin said. “We had to go straight to our bullpen right off the bat. We play a lot of games and it’s hard to get guys healthy and ready to pitch as fast as we needed them to, so that was probably the biggest thing having to go with another guy early.”

Eight walks by Laramie pitching also hurt, Colts manager Ryan Goodwin said.

“I believe seven of the eight walks came after we got the lead and that’s just unacceptable on the mound," Goodwin said.

The wind was taken out of the Colts sails once they blew their nine-run lead and they could not answer the Grays rally in front of a stunned silent home crowd, as Greeley would add three more runs in the ninth inning off of three RBI singles for a 17-10 lead.

“Baseball is about controlling momentum and we had the key error in the fourth inning where we could have got out of the inning with very minimal damage, and the next thing you know, it snowballed,” Goodwin said. “The problem is we have a lot of talented guys that just don’t seem to want to be the guy in the tough situation. When you got to make a play you got to step up and make a play no matter what the circumstances and that has become the most frustrating factor.”

Guetzke would hit an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning, but that would be as close as Laramie would get.

The Colts will try again Friday against the Grays at Cowboy Field, beginning at 6:35 p.m.

“Every game counts now, especially against them (Greeley),” Martin said. “If we can take these next two (games against Greeley), then that’s going to be huge. The biggest thing we got to do is just forget about tonight because it’s summer ball and you play every day.”

“If you dwell on this one, then you’re doomed to repeat it,” Goodwin added. “You got to have a short memory.”