GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Off to a 10-0 start in non-conference play to begin 2018, the now third-ranked Colorado Mesa University Softball team will play their home and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opening series against Chadron State College. Doubleheaders against the Eagles are now slated for 1 p.m. on Sunday and 11 a.m. on Monday after being pushed back a due to upcoming weather forecasts.
The series will feature the RMAC's top hitting team in CMU against the RMAC's top pitching staff, according to ERA, in the Eagles.
Moving on up
The unblemished start to the season has allowed the Mavericks to move up five spots to No. 3 in the first regular season edition of the NFCA (National Fastptich Coaches Association) Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll, which was announced earlier Wednesday. The Mavericks had been ranked No. 8 in the preseason poll.
The Mavericks, who have 360 points in the polling of 25 head coaches from around the country, are the only RMAC team in the poll. The No. 3 ranking is the highest in
Ben Garcia's tenure with the program.
Three of CMU's early-season opponents are also included in the top 25 with two others sitting in the receiving votes category. Preseason No. 2 Angelo State is now ranked fifth while Concordia-Irvine is ranked 16th. Texas A&M-Commerce is ranked 25th. St. Mary's, which was ranked 22nd in the Preseason is now receiving votes. Cal Baptist is also receiving votes for the second straight poll.
Defending national champion Minnesota State is still ranked first and is receiving 14 of the 16 first place votes. Preseason No. 7 North Georgia, off to a 15-0 start, is ranked second. Dixie State, which joins the RMAC next year, is ranked fourth.
The Mavericks were included in all but two of last year's 15 Top 25 polls.
Home-Field dominance
The Mavericks were a perfect 24-0 on their home field last year and will look to extend that home-field winning streak against the Eagles. The Mavericks also won 13 of their final 15 home games in 2016 and have won 37 straight regular season home-games dating back to that year. CMU's only two home-field losses in the last 39 games came in the 2016 RMAC Tournament, which the Mavericks hosted. CMU also hosted and won the 2017 RMAC Tournament.
Looking to avenge
The Mavericks won just one of three games in a rare single-day RMAC tripleheader last year against this weekend's opponent – Chadron State. That Feb. 27 tripleheader in Chadron, Neb., the end result of a series of schedule changes and postponements due to weather and field conditions, was the only one of the 10 RMAC series that the Mavericks did not win. The other nine ended up being full 4-game sets. After the games with Chadron State, the Mavericks went on a 24-game winning streak en-route to their 35-4 RMAC Championship winning conference record. They did defeat Chadron State by a 3-0 score on May 5 in the second round of the RMAC Tournament and split the overall season series with the Eagles, 2-2.
Strong SOS (Strength of Schedule)
The Mavericks went through the non-conference portion of their season unscathed, but considering what their opponents have done elsewhere, their 10-0 mark is even more impressive. CMU's nine opponents (they have played Western New Mexico twice) are a combined 65-48 this season, good for a solid .575 winning percentage. When throwing out the losses to CMU, the Mavericks' opponents are an even more impressive 65-38 (.631), against the rest of the country.
Three of CMU's South Central Regional opponents, who all qualified for last year's NCAA Division II Tournament, have already reached double-figures for wins, a group led by 13-1 Angelo State, last year's national runner-ups, and 10-1 Texas A&M-Commerce, whose only respective losses have come to the undefeated Mavericks.
The Mavericks beat two nationally-ranked teams in the NFCA's Preseason Top 25 (No. 2 Angelo State & No. 22 St. Mary's) at the season-opening CMU Invitational in Rio Rancho, N.M. and then took down Concordia-Irvine and Cal Baptist, both of whom were receiving votes in that poll, at the Dixie State Easton Classic.
Seven of the Mavericks' nine different opponents thus far have winning records and five are nationally-ranked or receiving votes in the current NFCA Division II poll.
Best since '07
The Mavericks' 10-0 start to this season is their best since 2007 when they went 12-0 to begin that season. All 12 of the season-opening wins were in conference play. The Mavs ended up going 27-16 overall and 25-10 in RMAC play that year.
Group of 10
CMU is one of just 10 undefeated teams (who have played games) left in all of NCAA Division II, according to the latest NCAA Division II statistical report released on Wednesday. Only four of the other nine teams have double-figure wins, a group led by NFCA No. 3 North Georgia, which is 15-0. Dixie State, which joins the RMAC next year, is also 13-0 and is ranked fourth in the NFCA poll. Defending national champion and No. 1 Minnesota State is 4-0 after opening their season last weekend.
Early Season Stat Rankings
As a team, the Mavericks are ranked in the nation's top 10 in six different statistical categories, including winning percentage and are getting it done both offensively and defensively. The Mavericks have made just four errors are ranked fourth nationally for fielding percentage at (.985). Offensively, they sit third in the country for doubles per game (2.90), fifth in slugging percentage (.612), seventh in scoring (9.20 runs per game), eighth in batting average (.371) and 13th in home runs per game. They lead the RMAC in each of those categories and stand 13th nationally for on-base percentage (.440), second best in the RMAC behind only Colorado Christian's .447 mark.
Individually, the Mavericks also have some highly-ranked players, most notably
Brooke Hodgson,
McKenzie Surface and
AnnMarie Torres. Hodgson is third in the country with eight doubles, an average of 0.80 per game, which ranks her eighth in the country. Torres has blasted six home runs, fift most in the country. She is 10th with her 0.60 per game average, and has already driven in 17 runs to rank 14th in the country in RBIs. She also ranks 23rd nationally in total bases (34) and 14th in slugging percentage (1.097) and 18th for RBIs per game (1.70). Surface is seventh in the country with her six wins and is ranks 22nd nationally for strikeouts with 36.
Raking in the Early-Season National Honors
The Mavericks have already had three players earn National Player of the Week honors this season as senior catcher
Zoe Pakes and sophomore first baseman
AnnMarie Torres were recognized by FastpitchNews.com (FPN) as the NCAA Division II Players of the Week on Feb. 6 and 13, respectively.
Brooke Hodgson was chosen as the Louisville/Slugger NFCA National Player of the Week on Feb. 7 as well.
Meanwhile, Hodgson, a second team selection, and Surface, who earned honorable mention plaudits, were also named to FPN's NCAA Division II All-America Team.
Hodgson, Surface and Torres were also named to the Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II Player of the Year Watchlist, made up of 50 elite players from around the country. CMU and West Texas A&M were the only programs with three selections to that list.
Honors plentiful at the conference level as well
The Mavericks have also earned their share of pre and early-season honors at the conference level as Hodgson was tabbed as the RMAC's Player of the Week for Week No. 1 on Feb. 6 while Surface was tabbed as the conference's Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 13. They were also named as the RMAC's Preseason Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, and were two of the conference-leading six Mavericks named to the 13-person Preseason All-RMAC team. Joining them on the Preseason All-RMAC team were AnnMarieTorres,
Alexandria Dufour,
Kaila Jacobi and
Abby Toller.
Getting to them early
The Mavericks have outscored their opponents by a combined 16-2 margin in the first inning of their 10 games thus far. They are also outscoring them 18-5 in the second inning this year. Those +14 and +13 run differentials by inning are the two best for CMU this season. Fifteen of CMU's 18 second-inning runs were scored in the season-opener against Western New Mexico, a mark that is tied for 12th most in a single inning in NCAA Division II history. The Mavs led 21-1 through two innings of that game, which eventually resulted in a school-record 25 runs and a 25-1 5-inning run-rule win, one of three "mercy" wins the Mavericks have thus far. The only inning the Mavericks are not outscoring their opponents is the seventh as CMU has been outscored 5-3 in the final regulation frame. In total, the Mavericks have scored 92 runs and given up just 33, a +59 overall differential.
RMAC dominance under Garcia
Ben Garcia is in his fourth season as the Mavericks' Head Coach. Named as the RMAC Coach of the Year in 2016, he has guided the Mavericks to 131 wins and a .749 winning percentage in his first 175 games (131-44) at CMU. The Mavericks, who have advanced to the last two South Central Regional Championship games, are also a combined 98-18 (.845) in RMAC games and 109-22 (.832) against RMAC foes –-counting non-conference and RMAC Tournament games— under Garcia.
CMU has won the last two RMAC Championships under Garcia with 35-4 (2017) and 35-3 (2016) conference records. The Mavericks also finished second in the 2015 standings in Garcia's first season claiming 28 wins, equal to MSU Denver's total from that year.
The back-to-back 35 RMAC win seasons are two of the third best in RMAC history behind only MSU Denver's 2010 37-RMAC win campaign.
The Mavericks have won 19 more RMAC games than any other team in the past two years (MSU Denver, 51) and have also won 19 more than the Roadrunners (79) since Garcia joined the Mavericks.
Prior to coming to CMU in July of 2014, Garcia served as the head coach at Otero Junior College for three seasons. He posted a 143-42 mark at Otero including a pair of Region IX Championships in 2013 and 2014.
Garcia was also highly successful at the high school rankings winning over 400 games in 21 years as head coach at Pueblo East. He led the Eagles to 19 state tournament appearances, including the state title in 2012 and four runner-up appearances.
Scouting the Eagles
Chadron State is 2-8 thus far in the campaign after going 2-3 at their opening tournament of the year in Lubbock, Texas before going 0-5 at the Dixie State Easton Classic. Although they did not meet the Mavericks in St. George, Utah, three of the Eagles opponents at the Dixie State tournament also played CMU on that weekend.
The Eagles' two wins came over Texas-Permian Basin and Emporia State (Kan.) in their first and final games of the Lubbock Christian University Tournament.
The Eagles are coming off a 32-25 season in 2017, their best ever in terms of wins, and were the fourth seed in last year's RMAC Tournament in Grand Junction after going 25-14 in RMAC play.
The Eagles are 4-4 against CMU in
Ben Garcia's three years with the Mavericks.
First-year head coach Kaley Scearcy was an assistant with the program for the previous two years and replaced now-retired Eagle head coach Dr. Robert Stack over the summer. She returns 13 members and five regular starters from last year's team.
The 2018 edition of the squad, which was picked fifth in the Preseason RMAC Coaches' Poll, has been led by a solid pitching staff, led by Jessica Jarecki, and four offensive players, who are all hitting above .300. Jarecki has posted a 2.33 ERA and is holding opponents to a .190 batting average while recording an RMAC-leading 44 strikeouts, 11th most in the country, in 39 innings spanning six games, all of which she has completed. Megan Horn is the Eagles' No. 2 and has struck out 19 in 15 1/3 innings while also holding opponents to a .190 batting average. As a pitching staff, the Eagles lead the RMAC in ERA (2.41), strikeouts (64) and opposing batting average (.182).
Offensively, junior Kayla Michel, who is listed on the roster as a catcher yet has started all 10 games at first base, is hitting a team-best .355 while sophomore infielder and part-time designated player Allie Mason is hitting .323 while driving in a team-leading eight runs. She also has two of the team's six home runs. Freshman catcher Leilani Niccum, who is hitting .304, also has two homers and is pacing the team with a .565 slugging percentage.
Up Next
After this weekend's home series, the Mavericks will be road warriors playing their next 12 games over three weekends away from home. They play at Adams State on Mar. 3-4, at New Mexico Highlands on Mar. 10-11, and at UCCS on Mar. 17-18 before playing 16 of their next 20 at home, starting Mar. 24-25 against the Colorado School of Mines.
