HOUSTON – The Colorado School of Mines Baseball team engineered its second straight win with a 6-2 victory over Arkansas Tech on Saturday at Minute Maid Park.
 
The junior duo of Alex Bumpus and Toby Scoles played hero on offense. Bumpus hit .333 with two RBI and one run on one double. Scoles also drove in two runs which accounted for all of the Orediggers' RBI. Gabe Garvens came up big as well. The junior finished his day 2-for-3 with one double while scoring two runs. Caden Bonds notched Mines' other multi-hit performance on a 2-for-4 day. Bonds came across to score along with Noah Kuzma and Trevor Howard. Additionally, Dereky Daly racked up two walks from his spot as the designated hitter.
 
On the mound, junior righty Drew Hill (1-0) earned the win thanks to 5.0 innings of one-hit, shutout baseball. Hill mowed down seven ATU batters by way of strikeout and surrendered just three walks while using 90 pitches on 20 batters. Ben Schoneman also appeared on the mound and provided 3.0 innings of scoreless relief. Schoneman only gave up three hits and one walk with two strikeouts. Zachary Kriethe pitched the ninth for a second straight day and wore the runs scored by the Wonder Boys despite a strikeout, fly ball and ground ball.
 
As a team, Mines (2-0) racked up seven hits and limited Arkansas Tech (0-2) to six base knocks. None of ATU's hits went for extra bases while the Orediggers benefited from two doubles. Mines' pitching staff put up 10 strikeouts and held the Wonder Boys to a batting average of .176. Defensively, each team committed only one error each.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
With the roof open and the sun shining at Minute Maid Park, Mines put together a performance filled with gritty pitching, solid defense and timely hitting. The Orediggers spaced their scoring over three innings later in the game. It started in the fifth frame with two runs off the bat of Bumpus. Kuzma's leadoff walk set the table, and Garvens' single put two ducks on the pond. With two outs and a full count, Bumpus delivered a double to left-center field to give Mines a 2-0 lead.
 
Another run in the top of the sixth inning came courtesy of Wonder Boy miscues. Howard reached on an error and eventually scored on a wild pitch, making it 3-0 in favor of the Orediggers. That eventually led to three runs of insurance in the final panel. Garvens opened the inning with a double. Bonds hit a one-out single, and Bumpus walked to load the bases. Scoles stepped to the plate for the very next at-bat. He took one pitch before knocking a two-run single into centerfield. Then, another wild pitch led to the final out on the base paths, but not before Bumpus scored to make it 6-0.
 
Meanwhile, defensively, Hill put together flawless frames on the mound in the first and fourth innings. He worked around a jam in the second inning by recording two strikeouts with runners on first and second. In the third inning, ATU would have gone in order, but an Oredigger error extended the inning. However, Hill worked a pop-up to second base and Garvens came through with the final out. Those two frames proved the closest Arkansas Tech would get to scoring until the bottom of the ninth. The Wonder Boys managed two runs on two hits and one walk, but it was too little too late. The only victory for ATU came in breaking up the shutout.
 
NOTABLES
- The last time Mines started a season 2-0 was 2017 thanks to two wins over MSU Billings at Jim Darden Field.
- Garvens leads the offense through two games, hitting .429 with two runs on three hits including two doubles.
- Hill's collegiate debut actually came at Minute Maid Park in 2018. He worked one strikeout in 0.1 innings in Mines' 6-0 win over Central Missouri. Hill only needed four pitches for the whiff.
- Hill is now 9-3 in his career with 126 strikeouts over 89 innings pitched.
- After hitting only .107 in the 2020 opener, Mines more than doubled its offensive production in the win over the Wonder Boys.
- Bumpus, Scoles and Danny McDermott all boast multiple RBI on the season.
- Arkansas Tech's ninth-inning runs were the first against Mines in 2020.
- Over 18.0 innings of work, the Oredigger pitching staff boasts a combined ERA of 1.00 with two runs on 10 hits and 18 strikeouts.
- Schoneman's 3.0 innings on the mound against ATU marked his Oredigger debut.
- Robby Bales boasts an all-time record of 42-15 as the head coach at Mines.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Orediggers close the Houston Winter Invitational on Sunday against #4-ranked Central Missouri at 1:30 p.m. (CT). Live stats of the game will be available at www.minesathletics.com.
 
Keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all season long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.