Commerce City CO;  The Colorado Aces faced off against the Buffalos on Sunday and garnered their second straight win with a 7-1 triumph at Prairie View High School.

  The Aces have now righted the ship after losing three in a row in June to fall to 5-3.  They now stand 7-3 and firmly entrenched in 2nd place in the NABA 35W League standings.

The tone was set for the Aces by starting pitcher Dan Clemens who has been terrific on the mound all season. Clemens came out and did not give the Buffalos anything they could get good wood on in the game.  He would pitch a complete game 9 hitter with the only run coming in the 4th inning when the Buffalos finally strung together 3 hits in a row.  Otherwise Clemens was at his best on this day.  He struck out 6 and didn't walk a batter in the game and benefitted from some pretty good defense behind him.  Catcher Mitch Gross called a great game from behind the plate and the Aces infield and outfield made plays when they needed to.

The bats were a little slow to get going but coming into the 6th inning tied at 1-1, the Aces started getting into the hitting groove.  Kyle Paulson led the inning off with his second walk of the game, promptly stole second base and then Shane Saunders followed with a walk of his own.  Andy Philemon would knock in Paulson with a single, Dennis White followed with a single that plated Saunders and Keith Losey would follow a Clemens Fielder's Choice with a single of his own that scored Philemon.  This uprising would make the score 4-1, Aces and with the way Clemens was dealing, the game was essentially out of reach.

The Aces would tack on another 3 runs in the 7th as Chris Schneider and Sherman Lodge would lead off the inning with singles.  After Pat Poppen made an out, Paulson would draw his third walk on the day to load the bases.  Saunders would follow with an RBI groundout, Philemon would then stay hot by driving in 2 runs with a single to close out the scoring. 

One other highlight on the day was Pat Poppen smashing a double to the left center field gap, his first double of his Aces career.  Another was Lodge's 3 for 3 day, Schneider getting 2 hits on the day and Clemens getting hits from both the left and right sides of the plate.

It was a really good win for the Aces as, had they lost to the Buffalos, they would have fallen into a tie with the Buffalos in the standings and have an uphill climb to get one of the first two seeds for the upcoming playoffs.

Next up for the Aces is a 9:00 game at North High School this Saturday against the Mudcats.  This is the make-up game from the rain-out on June 7th.  This is a huge game for the Aces as they are chasing the Mudcats for first place in the league.  The Mudcats come into the contest at 8-1 just a game and a half ahead of the Aces.