GILLETTE, Wyo. – Four Chadron State College entries placed among the top five in their events at the Gillette College rodeo, which opened the second half of the season in the Central Rocky Mountain Region this past weekend. 

Sophomore Seth Glass finished the highest for CSC by placing second overall among the 36 tie down ropers. He caught and tied his calves in 10.3 and 11.5 seconds, placing second  in the long go-round and third in the finals. 
 
Two CSC entries earned third place in their events. Senior Cinch Kiger of Overton scored 75 and 76 points in bareback riding while the team of header Amanda Sellin was the header and heeler Levi Noyes claimed third in team roping.  

Sellin, a senior from Norfolk, Nebraska, and Noyes, a freshman from Bighorn, Montana, needed 14.3 seconds to finish their first run. That made them the 10^th and final qualifiers for the finals on Sunday.  However, they completed their second run in 7.6 seconds to share first place in the finals and moved up seven spots to third overall.

Senior Bridget Romey of Hot Springs, S.D., turned in the second fastest time of 15.1 seconds in the first go-round of the barrel race. Her second run Sunday took 15.56 seconds and moved her to fifth place overall.  

Eastern Wyoming College at Torrington will host the next rodeo in the region next weekend.

Eagles Lose Two Tight Contests to Roadrunners

DENVER – MSU Denver pitching held the Chadron State offense scoreless in 13 out of 14 innings over the course of Sunday's doubleheader, helping the Roadrunners defeat CSC 6-5 and 3-0 to conclude a four-game series. 

While the Eagles (4-25, 4-16 RMAC) made the first game interesting by scoring five runs in the sixth inning of game one to nearly erase a 6-0 deficit, the Roadrunners (23-7, 16-4 RMAC) maintained their advantage to take the overall series, three games to one. 

Chadron State received offensive contributions from Payton Sullivan (3-for-4 at the plate across both games) and Brogan Allen (2-for-4 in game one) while five different Eagles drove home a run in the opening game's sixth inning. 

Belle Akins starred in the circle, coming out of the bullpen in both contests in relief of both game one starter Brynn Trujillo and game two starter McKenna Sides. Across her two appearances, Akins threw five shutout innings, allowing just three hits while walking two and striking out four. 

Game one on Sunday saw a starting pitching rematch of Saturday's pitcher's duel between Chadron State's Brynn Trujillo and MSU Denver's Natalie Romero which finished 0-0 after seven innings before the Eagles won 3-0 in extras. 

Trujillo couldn't keep the Roadrunners off the board this time, as RMAC batting average leader Cheyenne Prieto hit a two-run homer in the first to give MSU Denver a 2-0 lead three batters into the game. The Roadrunners tacked on with sacrifice flies in the third and fourth innings, followed by a two-run single later in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead as Trujillo was pulled after four complete innings of work. 

With Akins steadying the ship in relief, Chadron State nearly mounted a comeback. With only two hits through five innings off Romero, the Eagles more than doubled that total with nobody out in the sixth as Elizabeth Thorngren, Brogan Allen and Tiffani Mein all singled to load the bases. 

Freshman Brianna Cordray drew a walk to force in a run and put CSC on the board. After a fielder's choice in which the Roadrunners got a force out at home, Katelynn Czerpak drove home a run with an infield single on a unique play. Czerpak hit a slow dribbler down the third base foul line which the MSU Denver third baseman picked up, only for the ball to be ruled fair and leaving the Roadrunners with no play. 

MSU Denver made a pitching change to reliever Brooke Levin, but pinch-hitter Payton Sullivan greeted the new hurler with a first-pitch opposite-field single to right. The Eagles went station-to-station again and one run scored, making it 6-3 with one out. After another bases-loaded walk drawn by Charley Pitrat, Macie Selfors reached on a fielder's choice that brought the Eagles with a run at 6-5. 

Levin would settle down from there, retiring Thorngren to end the sixth and setting down the Eagles in order in the seventh inning to earn the save. 

The Eagles wouldn't ever really challenge game two starter Kianna Butler offensively, managing five singles and failing to score. Payton Sullivan had two hits while Pitrat, Thorngren and Czerpak all had one during the second game. 

McKenna Sides started and gave up three runs on nine hits across her three-plus innings of work. Akins came on in relief with the bases loaded, nobody out and one run already in with the Eagles trailing 2-0 in the fourth inning. 

Akins gave up a soft single that allowed one inherited runner to score, but other than that recorded two strikeouts and a foul out to get out of the jam. The Roadrunners managed only one hit off Akins in the fifth and sixth innings, but the Eagles couldn't find a late-inning rally like in previous games of the series.
 
Chadron State will return home next week to battle league-leading Colorado Christian (30-2, 20-0 RMAC).