GUNNISON, Colo.  A second-period pin from Cole Gray at 184 pounds clinched Saturday night's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory over visiting Colorado School of Mines, and Zachary Schraeder put the icing on the cake in the final match with a thrilling triple-overtime victory to lift Western Colorado to a 29-15 win.

The victory keeps the Mountaineers unbeaten in RMAC matches this season.

JUST THE FACTS
Final score: Western def. Colorado Mines, 29-15
Records: Western 6-2 overall (3-0 RMAC), Mines 4-1 (2-1)
Location: Paul Wright Gym, Gunnison, Colo.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Cole Hernandez, fourth-ranked in the NWCA individual rankings, provided Western with a 10-point lead after scoring a 9-1 major decision at 174 over 11th-ranked Wyatt Reisz.
• Gray stepped onto the mat with just two more bouts to follow, both of which if Mines earned pins in, it would potentially wrest back the lead.
• After a scoreless first period, Gray and the Orediggers' Mason Diel entered the second with Diel deferring the choice to Gray, who chose to start on the bottom. Gray didn't take long to earn the first point of the match with an escape, then snapped in a takedown that put Diel on his back and just like that it was over, only 53 seconds into the period.
• The fall pushed Western ahead 26-10 to clinch the victory for the Mountaineers, breaking a four-match losing streak to Mines that began with the 2018 season.
• Early bouts on Saturday had Western jumping in front behind a 15-6 major by Roberto Estrada at 125, and a pin by Patrick Allis only 75 seconds into the 133 match.
• Mines answered, though, with a pair of technical falls at 141 and 149 to square the team scores at 10-10.
• Ryan Wilson at 157 initiated a string of four wins, though, that ended with Gray's match-clinching pin.
• Wilson won an 8-2 decision, followed by Walker Heckendorf's taut 3-1 decision at 165, leaving the rest of the streak to Hernandez and Gray.
• Though the match had been decided before the final bout, Schraeder and Mines' Cade Whish gave the raucous Paul Wright Gym crowd a thriller to end the night.
• The only scoring in regulation came with Schraeder earning an escape to start the second period, and Whish equaling that point with his own escape to start the third.
• Neither wrestler scored in the initial sudden-victory period, sending the match to a pair of 30-second periods. Whish elected to start the first of those on the bottom and picked up the escape point, but Schraeder, who elected to start on the bottom of the third OT period.
• With the home crowd chanting his name, Schraeder gave them what they wanted and eschewed an escape and instead earned a 2-point reversal for the 3-2 win that capped the team victory.

NEXT UP
The Mountaineers will travel to Kearney, Nebraska, to participate in the Midwest Duals at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds on Sat., Jan. 20.