Colorado Mesa and Cal Baptist will meet up for the fourth straight year in a four-game series. This year's version will feature a pair of nationally ranked programs in fourth-ranked Colorado Mesa and sixth-ranked Cal Baptist. Another common aspect of both teams is they both played in the NCAA Tournament a year ago as the Lancers competed in the West Region Tournament falling to both Azusa Pacific and Dixie State.

Cal Baptist is led at the plate by first baseman John Glenn who has 12 hits in the Lancers six games. He leads the team with eight RBIs while teammate Tommy Bell is the big bat in the middle of the order. Bell has three doubles, two home runs and leads the team with nine runs scored. 

The Lancers have one of Division II's best arms in right hander Dylan Stowell. Stowell missed all of last season with an arm injury but has returned with a 1.23 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 7.1 innings of work. Sophomore Logan Rinehart is a rising star who has 14 strikeouts in 11.0 innings of work.

LAST WEEKEND
Colorado Mesa opened the home portion of the schedule with a four-game series sweep of No. 15 Dixie State at Suplizio Field. The Mavericks outscored the Trailblazers 25-10 in the series and owned a .317 batting average during the four games. The pitching staff finished the weekend with an ERA of 2.65 and limited Dixie to a .179 team batting average.
 
SCOUTING THE LANCERS
The Mavericks will play their third ranked opponent in as many weeks as they travel to Riverside, Calif. to take on No. 6 Cal Baptist. The Lancers come into the weekend with a 5-1 record and are coming off a three game sweep of RMAC foe Colorado Christian. CBU is hitting .306 on the season and have a 1.86 ERA on the mound. Cal Baptist is playing in its final season of Division II competition before moving to Division I and the Western Athletic Conference.

RMAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Colorado Mesa's JR McDermott was named the RMAC Pitcher of the Week after pitching a complete-game shutout against No. 15 Dixie State in game three of the series. The junior allowed two hits, walked one and faced just one over the minimum. He didnt allow a baserunner to reach second base and struck out seven in the win.

CAREER-HIGHS
A pair of Mavericks seniors attained career-highs over the weekend. Garrett Ball scored four runs in the 14-5 win over Dixie State on Friday. In the same game, outfielder Keenan Eaton drove in a career-high four runs. 

DRIVE EM IN
The Mavericks are hitting .299 but cleanup hitter Keenan Eaton is batting .500 with runners in scoring position. The Parker native is leading the team with nine runs driven in this season.

THE STAFF
Colorado Mesa posted a 2.65 ERA in the series sweep of Dixie State during Leadoff Weekend. The Mavericks will likely keep the rotation the same for the series with Cal Baptist with AJ Landis settling into the closer's role. Landis is 1-0 with two saves with 10 strikeouts.

50
The Mavericks set a program record a year ago by going 50-12 during the 2017 campaign. The 50 wins was a program first and ending up leading the nation in wins. The 50th win may not have come against a grander opponent in top ranked Delta State in the NCAA Division II World Series.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
The Mavericks are ranked in the top five in all of the major publications. They are ranked No. 4 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, No. 5 by amateur baseball website Perfect Game, and No. 3 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association. D2Baseballnews.com has yet to release their preseason poll. Updated polls are expected out next week.

THE SKIPPER
Head coach Chris Hanks enters his 20th season guiding the Mavericks and has an impressive 794-330 record, most in program history. In 2017, he guided the Mavericks to their third NCAA Division II World Series and their ninth straight NCAA Tournament. The feat earned him ABCA South Central Region Coach of the year, an honor he has earned three times now.

UP NEXT
Colorado Mesa will open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action on the road in Lakewood as they take on Colorado Christian in a four-game series. They will return home on Sunday for a mini two game set with Fresno Pacific, their third PacWest opponent of the year.