James and Smith Lift Huskies’ Comeback over CSU Pueblo

Monday, February 26

Pueblo, Colo.

12:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

8-6

CSU Pueblo

9-3

St. Cloud State

CSU Pueblo

Photo by: Ryan Roehl

2/26/2024 10:23:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

James two home runs and Smith’s three innings on the mound lead SCSU to 11-9 victory

PUEBLO, Colo. – St. Cloud State Baseball (8-6, 4-0 NSIC) finished off its Colorado road trip with an 11-9 win over Colorado State Pueblo (9-3, 0-0 RMAC) on Monday afternoon in Pueblo. Graduate Cal James (Buffalo, Minn.) had his best day at the plate as a Husky, launching two home runs and driving in five runs while starting shortstop junior Sawyer Smith (Somers, Wis.) had three hits including two doubles and took the mound for the final three innings to record the victory in the game.

Pueblo scored the first two runs of the game in the second inning, but SCSU responded with three runs in the third to take the lead for the first time in the game after senior Tyler Schiller (Hutchinson, Minn.) doubled to deep left center to drive in junior Ethan Navratil (Albany, Minn.) and redshirt junior Garrett Bevacqua (Carlsbad, Calif.).

Right after the Huskies took the lead, Pueblo responded by scoring seven of the game's next eight runs to take a 9-4 lead after the seventh inning. Down five runs with six outs to go, the Huskies fight was just beginning. With two on and no outs, James unloaded on a 1-1 pitch to hit a three-run home run to make the score 9-7. Four batters later, Navratil came to the plate with the bases loaded and hit a sac fly to deep center field, deep enough that it scored two runs to tie the game.

James came up again in the ninth with a runner on second and sent a 0-1 pitch deep over the center field fence to give SCSU the lead for good at 11-9. On the mound, Smith struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to finish the game.

TOP HUSKIES

James – 3-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 R, BB
Smith – 3-6, 2 R, W, 3.0 IP, R, 4 K
Navratil – 1-3, 2 RBI
Schiller – 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI, BB

NOTES

James launched two home runs, had five RBI, three hits and three runs scored, all season-highs for the Husky transfer.
James' two blasts mark his fifth career multi-home run game after hitting two home runs three times with UMary, most recently against St. Cloud State on April 23, 2023. His five RBI are the second-most in his career, trailing only his six RBI performance from May 1, 2021.
Smith matched his season-high with three hits and earned his first win of the season on the mound with his 3.0 IP performance with four strike outs.
Bevacqua drew a career-high three walks in the game.
Senior Mitchell Gumbko (Ada, Mich.) extended his hit streak to 12 games to open the season with a seventh inning single.

UP NEXT

St. Cloud State will next play Augustana in conference play on March 15-17.

For all the latest on St. Cloud State Baseball, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.