HAYS, Kan. – The #23-ranked Colorado School of Mines Baseball team swept its doubleheader against Fort Hays State on Sunday by scores of 20-11 and 6-5 while clinching the series behind Caden Bonds' seven runs on seven hits.
 
Bonds finished the day batting .700, adding five RBI to his line thanks to one double and two home runs. The shortstop slugged 1.400 over the two games and racked up 14 total bases. I-Ly Hsue was equally impressive with six RBI and one run while hitting .625 with a dinger. Danny McDermott hit .500 and Trevor Howard hit .444. That duo combined to score six runs with five RBI and a home run apiece. Toby Scoles and Jason Hall went long for Mines as well. Nine different Orediggers collected multiple hits, seven individuals scored multiple runs and seven others notched multiple RBI.
 
On the mound, Drew Hill (2-0) started game one and pitched his way to victory behind 12 strikeouts over 5.0 innings of three-run, three-hit baseball. Tyler Blomster (1-0) started game two and earned his first win of the season thanks to 8.0 innings of five-run, six-hit work with 10 strikeouts. Zachary Kriethe posted his second save of the season, pitching a no-hit, shutout inning in the finale. Brayden Weyer and Arik Ringsby made their 2020 debuts to close out game one as well.
 
The Orediggers (5-2) finished the day hitting .407 and slugging .765 as a team. Through the two games, Mines scored 26 runs on 33 hits including seven home runs, one triple and six doubles. Meanwhile, the Oredigger pitching staff held Fort Hays State (5-3) to a batting average of .274 and also struck out 24 Tiger batters. The pitchers for FHSU did fan 20 Orediggers, but ended up with a staff ERA of 13.50. On the weekend, Mines went 3-1 while averaging 11 runs per game while striking out a total of 48 batters.
 
GAME ONE: #23 Mines 20, Fort Hays State 11
While snow fell in Golden, the wind howled out at Larks Park. The Orediggers ignored the brisk temps and plugged directly into nature's power supply, using the long ball to score in all but one inning in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader. Howard opened it up in the opening frame with a two-run bomb to right field, and Mines did not look back.
 
Bonds' leadoff double in the second inning built the visitors' lead to 3-0. However, six runs in the third panel truly blew the game wide open. It was Bonds again highlighting the outburst. He hit a three-run home to left field. Then, Hsue went long to left field as well to make it 9-0. Howard, Hall, Scoles and Kuzma all came across the plate in the six-run, four-hit frame and on defense Hill carried a perfect game into the third inning and a no-hit bid into the fourth inning. He also racked up 12 strikeouts along the way.
 
After the fateful third, another run came off back-to-back doubles courtesy of McDermott and Hall in the fourth inning before Fort Hays State managed a shutout performance in the fifth inning. Mines' only zero on the scoreboard in the game did little to slow down the Orediggers. Over the last two panels, the visitors racked up 10 more runs on 11 hits. McDermott and Scoles mashed taters in the sixth while Bonds and Hall did the same in the seventh. The Tigers attempted to rally, taking advantage of Mines' bullpen for eight runs. However, it proved too little too late as Jakob Pigati tracked down the final out on a fly ball to left field.
 
GAME TWO: #23 Mines 6, Fort Hays State 5
The second game of the day provided a different look from the Oredigger offense. Instead of racking up home runs, Mines chose to engineer its scoring through consecutive hits and aggressive base running. In fact, the first run of the game featured Howard going from first base to home plate on a McDermott double to right-center field. That gave the visitors a 1-0 lead after one inning thanks to a 1-2-3 bottom half from Blomster.
 
Bonds, Pigati and Okamoto provided three straight hits to start the second inning. Okamoto's single brought Bonds into score for a 2-0 advantage. Immediately after, Okamoto and Pigati pulled off the double steal for runners on second base and third base. Hsue delivered a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 3-0 in favor of the Orediggers. Once again, Blomster and Mines' defense proved effective with a strikeout, ground ball and fly ball performance to keep FHSU scoreless and send the game into the third frame.
 
Both teams got in on the action in the third inning. Mines used two singles, one walk, two wild pitches and one passed ball to score two runs and make it 5-0. Then, the Tigers managed to break up Blomster's no-hit bid in a big way by hitting a two-run home run and cutting the Oredigger advantage to 5-2. After that outburst, neither team scored for consecutive frames until FHSU racked up three runs in the sixth and evened the score at 5-5.
 
The tie score didn't last long. Mines worked a single run in the top of the seventh inning and reclaimed the lead at 6-5. Bonds was responsible for the go-ahead score, lacing a one-out single through the left side before coming across the plate on a two-out single from Hsue. It was all the Orediggers needed as Blomster put up two more innings of no-hit, shutout baseball including two strikeouts. Kriethe capped it in the ninth on two fly balls and a strikeout.
 
NOTABLES
- Mines' doubleheader sweep gives it 15 wins in the all-time series against Fort Hays State. The Orediggers haven't lost a series to the Tigers in more than a decade – dating back to 2009.
- The Orediggers are 7-3 in their last 10 meetings with FHSU.
- Blomster's win on the mound makes him 25-6 in his collegiate career.
- The last time Mines scored 20 runs in one game was April 26 of last season at UCCS in a 21-15 win.
- Seven Oredigger dingers in game one broke the program's single-game record. The previous mark was six home runs on three different occasions.
- Scoles, Bonds and Hsue all hit their first collegiate home runs in the record-setting effort.
- In game one of the doubleheader, all 13 Oredigger batters notched at least one hit or scored one run.
- Hall has seven hits this season and only one is a single. The redshirt sophomore boasts three home runs, one triple and two doubles.
- Chris Okamoto made the first two starts of his collegiate career on Sunday.
- Hill's 12 strikeouts are the most by a Mines pitcher in a single game this season. The program record is 14 strikeouts by Matt Gilbreath in 2004.
- Hill also moved up to #9 on Mines' all-time strikeouts list thanks to 138 over 21 appearances and 16 starts.
- Schoneman's pinch-hit plate appearance in game one marked the first at-bat of his collegiate career. He's now 1-for-1 with a double.
- Robby Bales is 45-17 in two years as the head coach for the Orediggers.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Mines looks to play its 2020 home opener next Saturday in a non-conference affair against Regis at 1 p.m. Live stats and video of the game will be available at www.minesathletics.com.