CU challenging for Mid-American Region-West Conference
The Colorado State Rams have lost their edge.
For the first time in five seasons the Colorado State club baseball team is in danger of not-winning the Mid-American Region-West Conference.
Instead, the favorite to win the conference might be the Buffs.
From the beginning of the season, Colorado’s captain Joey Fulcher said that the Buffs and Rams would be the two contenders going down to the wire to win the conference, and make post-season play.
“We want to win this Conference and put Colorado baseball back to the elite,” Fulcher said.
Early in the season the Buffs saw their potential to take the conference, when Colorado blanked the Rams 6-0, led by Matt DeGraaf’s pitching.
“I don’t know if we have ever done that to the Rams since I have been here,” four-year pitcher Pat Comly said.
It was DeGraaf’s first pitching performance of the season, and his first statement to the rest of the Mid-American Region-West Conference that the Buffs were legitimate.
Then he forgot to stop making statements in every game he pitched.
DeGraaf’s 5-0 record and .82 ERA to date has been the catalyst in Colorado’s season.
“Matt (DeGraaf) has been our ace,” Comly said. “He is our leading force out there and he has the stuff that keeps us winning.”
The Buffs’ pitching staff as a whole has feed off DeGraaf as the season has progressed, and no one on the staff holds a losing record.
But if the Buffs hope to close out the season with a post-season bid, they will have one final series against the Colorado State Rams to prove themselves.
“Our team shows a lot of heart, and we need to just keep it up through our final games,” Fulcher said.
The Buffs’ only 2008 Conference loss comes to the Rams on March 1, when the Rams beat the Buffs 9-2.
Contact Staff Writer Brent New at brent.new@colorado.edu.
