SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Starting pitcher Garrett Apker threw a program-record 13 strikeouts in a complete-game performance as the Cal State San Marcos baseball team (3-5) defeated No. 17 Colorado School of Mines (11-1) by a score of 3-2 in the series finale on Sunday at CSUSM Baseball Field.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Garrett Apker – 9 IP | 13 K | 2 ER | 3 BB | 125 pitches
Mark Stanford – 1-for-3 | 2 RBI | 1 2B | 1 SAC
Kevin Van Linge – 2-for-4 | 1 R | 1 SB
Ethan Rivera – 1-for-3 | 1 R | 1 2B | 1 BB
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Scoreless heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, CSUSM finally broke into the run column. After a double steal by the Cougars to put runners in scoring position, Stanford laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Van Linge from third to take a 1-0 lead.
• After Rivera doubled down the right field line with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Stanford hit a double of his own to plate Rivera and gave CSUSM a 2-0 lead.
• In the top of the eighth after Mines' Brady Veltien singled to left, Danny McDermott doubled to right center. Trying to score from first, Veltien was thrown out at the plate off a relay throw from Van Linge while McDermott advanced to third. An RBI groundout by Keene Tanaka scored McDermott and made it a 2-1 game.
• Coming out for his ninth inning of work, Apker allowed a single and a walk before posting his second strikeout of the inning. With two on and two out, a wild pitch scored Alex Bumpus to knot the game at 2-all. Apker then finished the inning by getting his program-record 13th strikeout and sending the game into the bottom of the ninth.
• After Griffin Teisher walked to lead off the bottom of the ninth, Adam Lovato came on to pinch run. Gabriel Ponce de Leon came on to pinch hit and delivered a single to left field. With runners on first and second, Niko Diaz hit a would-be out to first, but Mines' Veltien misplayed the ball and allowed Lovato to score the game-winning run from second.

 
QUICK HITS

• The win was CSUSM's first over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 22 Chico State on April 3, 2016, and it was the Cougars' second time doing so as an NCAA Division II member.
• Apker's 13 strikeouts were the most by a Cougar pitcher since Mike Lopez threw 12 against MSU Denver on Feb. 1, 2019.
• Apker's nine-inning performance was the 19th in program history and first since Taylor Ahearn's complete game on April 9, 2017, against Stanislaus State.
• Stanford was the sixth Cougar to have a multi-RBI game this season while Van Linge tallied his third multi-hit game.
• The Cougars allowed just one extra-base hit.
• Emilio Luna's seven-game reached-base streak came to an end.
• Mines took three out of four games to win the inaugural series.

 

Head Coach Matt Guiliano discusses Garrett Apker's program-record 13 K performance and the Cougars' series-finale win over No. 17 Colorado School of Mines. #BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/AX3XSXme6o

— CSUSM Baseball (@CSUSMBaseball) February 20, 2022

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will close out non-conference play by hosting NAIA's La Sierra in a doubleheader next Sunday beginning at 11 a.m.