GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The nation's top-ranked Colorado Mesa University Maverick softball team returns home to the CMU Softball Stadium after three straight road trips and will to continue their unbeaten season when they host the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers in a re-match of last year's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament Championship game.
 
Doubleheaders will begin at noon on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday.
 
The Mavericks, who have played their last 12 games away from home, are 26-0 overall and 16-0 in RMAC play.
 
Mines will enter the series with 15-13 overall and 9-7 RMAC records after dropping three games of a 4-game set with Black Hills State last weekend at home in Golden.  They are in fourth place in the RMAC standings, currently co-led by the Mavericks and Colorado Christian (23-2, 16-0 RMAC).
 
On the verge

CMU senior Brooke Hodgson is on the verge of breaking the school and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference record for career RBIs.  Hodgson, who is second in the country with 53 RBI this year, has driven in 239 runs in her brilliant Maverick career, just five shy of the current school and RMAC record held by her former teammate Mekayla Kovac, who had 244 in her 2013-16 Maverick career.  Hodgson was a freshman and sophomore in Kovac's final two years.
 
Kovac's record is also tied for the seventh best in Division II history while Hodgson currently sits 11^th on the Division II all-time charts.  Realistically, Hodgson could reach as high as the No. 2 spot on the Division II chart.  To do so, she will need 34 more to match Alabama-Huntsville's Kailtyn Bannister, who had 273 in her 2014-17 career.  Wisconsin-Parkside's Jackie Aiken holds the record with a tally of 344 from 1994-97.
 
Three weeks at No. 1
 
The Mavericks are ranked No. 1 once again in this week's NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll, released Wednesday.  This is the third straight week that has seen the Mavericks atop the rankings.
 
CMU picked up two more points in the polling of 16 member coaches from around the country and now have 396 total points.  They are also receiving 12 of the 16 possible first place votes and were selected second by the other four coaches.  North Georgia (32-1) is receiving the other four first place votes and sits second with 388 points, three more than they received last week.
 
Elsewhere in the poll, Chico State (Calif.) (26-3) and North Alabama (23-2) both moved up two spots to third and fourth while Angelo State (Texas) (27-3) slipped a spot to fifth after dropping one of three games to No. 15 West Texas A&M in a key Lone Star Conference series.
 
Future RMAC member Dixie State fell three spots to sixth after losing their first two games in 6-game PacWest trip to Hawai'i last week. 
 
Texas A&M Commerce (25-3) moved up two spots to ninth and is in the top 10 for the first time in school history.  The Mavericks defeated both Angelo State and Texas A&M-Commerce on back-to-back days (Feb. 2 & 3) at the CMU Invitational in Rio Rancho, N.M.  The Mavericks also hold a win over California Baptist, which moved up two spots to No. 23 in this week's poll, and another over Concordia-Irvine, which is in the receiving votes category of this week's poll after falling from the No. 17 spot.
 
CMU has been in the top 10 for all six polls this season, including the preseason.  They were ranked third in the Week No. 1 and 2 polls after sitting eighth in the preseason.
 
Best Start Continues
 
The Mavericks' 26-0 start to this season is believed to the best in the program's history, and is certainly the best in available records that date back to 1994.
 
The 2007 squad was the last Maverick team to reach double-figures without a loss as they went 12-0 to begin the season before going on to finish 27-16 overall and 25-10 in RMAC play that year.
 
As a point of reference, the 2000 Maverick squad which reached the Division II World Series started 20-6 while going 44-12 overall.
 
The 2017 Maverick team went 48-8 overall while the 2002 team holds the record for most team wins after going 49-13.  The 2017 team went 22-4 while the 2002 team went 21-5 in their first 26 games of the season.
 
Balance of power
 
The Mavericks have hit 45 home runs this season to lead the RMAC and rank third nationally.  Three different Maverick players are ranked amongst the RMAC's top four home run hitters as AnnMarie Torres leads the team and the RMAC with 10 home runs while Brooke Hodgson is right behind with nine, tied for second most in the conference.  Zoe Pakes is fourth in the conference with eight after hitting one in each game of Sunday's doubleheader at UCCS and three in the weekend series with the Mountain Lions as a whole.
 
In total, eleven different Maverick players have gone long this season.   Junior Lexie Comer is the latest addition to that club as she hit a 3-run bomb against UCCS.  That was the first of her career.
 
Hailey Hinson and Kaila Jacobi also have five home runs each.  Hinson hit one on Sunday after hitting four in the previous series against New Mexico Highlands.  Jacobi had three in that series.
 
RMAC homer streak
 
The Mavericks have feasted on their RMAC opponents thus far hitting 32 of their 45 home runs in their 16 conference games, an average of two per.  CMU has at least one home run in each of their last 15 games.
 
Speaking of streaks
 
Despite winning 26 straight games to begin the year, the Mavericks are still three wins from what would be their longest winning streak in program history and even their longest winning streak under fourth-year head coach Ben Garcia.
 
The 2016 Mavericks won 29 straight games from Feb. 27 to Apr. 19 en-route to a 40-13 overall campaign, featuring a 35-3 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title winning record.
 
This year's Maverick squad could possibly match and break the length of that streak on Sunday.
 
Domination of the 'Diggers
 
The Mavericks have won 18 straight games against the Colorado School of Mines dating back to the 2014 season.  Mines' last win in the series came on Mar. 22, 2013 in Golden in the team's lone meeting of that season.  The Orediggers last win over the Mavericks in Grand Junction came back on Apr. 16, 2010.
 
Current Maverick coach Bennie Garcia is 14-0 against the Orediggers as the Mavs swept a neutral-site tripleheader in Golden in 2015, a 4-game series in Grand Junction in 2016 and another 4-game set in Golden last year.  The Mavericks also won a 2016 RMAC Tournament game against the Orediggers and recorded two games at last year's RMAC Tournament, including a 2-1 victory in the championship game.
 
Runs, Runs and more runs
 
The Mavericks have continued to dominate their opponents, especially in the RMAC.  The Mavericks outscored UCCS 47-2 in last week's series after outscoring New Mexico Highlands 56-2 the week prior.  In their 16 RMAC wins, the Mavericks have outscored the opposition by a massive 192-15 margin, good for a 177 run differential and an average margin of victory of more than 11 runs per game (11.06)
 
Overall, the Mavericks have scored 284 runs while conceding just 48 and officially stand second in the nation for scoring with their 10.92 run per game average.  Bluefield State (W. Va.) is listed as the leader in the national statistics at 12.33 but statistical reports from only three of their games have been submitted to the NCAA and with results of three games played against Virginia Union, Bluefield State's average is only 8.33 runs per game, which makes the Mavericks the de-facto scoring leader.

Half (13) of the Mavericks' 26 wins have come via the run-rule.  The Mavericks have won 10 of their 16 conference games via the run rule.
 
Leading the nation
 
The reason why the Mavericks are leading the nation in scoring is no mystery.  One just needs to delve a little deeper in the NCAA stats and would see that the Mavericks are also leading the country in team batting average (.410), doubles per game (2.81), slugging percentage (.701) and stand second in on-base percentage (.473) and third in home runs per game (1.73).
 
CMU has a team batting average of. 435 in their 16 conference games and hit a .447 clip against UCCS after hitting at a .492 pace against New Mexico Highlands.
 
Stingy defense
 
The Mavericks defense has also been stingy as of late conceding just four total runs in their last eight games.  CMU has posted four shutouts over the last two weekends and has given up just a single run in the other four games.  Incidentally, the Mavericks have posted one shutout in each of their last four doubleheaders against New Mexico Highlands and UCCS.
 
Three No. 1's for #11
 
Senior Brooke Hodgson, who wears uniform #11, is leading the country in three difference statistical categories as well.  She paces the NCAA Division II statistics with 52 total hits and 15 total doubles, which in turn has helped her lead the country in total bases with 98.  As mentioned earlier, she also sits second in the country for RBIs (53) and RBI per game (2.04).  Hodgson also ranks fourth in the country for batting average (.553), fourth for runs per game (1.77), fifth for slugging percentage (1.043) and seventh for doubles per game (0.58).  She leads the RMAC in each of those categories.
 
It's far from only Hodgson
 
Hodgson is just one of several Mavericks ranked amongst the nation's top 10 in various statistical categories.  AnnMarie Torres is third for total RBI (41) and fifth for RBI per game (1.58) while lead-off hitter Maggie Manwarren is 10^th in the country for both total hits (41) and stolen bases (0.92/game) while sitting seventh for runs per game (1.58).  Torres is also 10^th for total home runs and just outside of the top 10 in 11^th for total baes (75).
 
Meanwhile, pitcher McKenzie Surface is fourth in the country with her 14 total wins while fellow junior hurler Kimbri Herring is ranked 11^th for strikeouts per seven innings (9.5).
 
Glove work
 
Although the offense is certainly in strong form, the Mavericks are also playing superb defense.  They are ranked third nationally with their .981 fielding percentage.  The Mavericks have committed just 12 errors all season, including just five in their last 12 games.
 
What a staff
 
Kimbri Herring has thrown a shutout in each of the last three weekends and has allowed just four total and three earned runs in 42 innings against RMAC competition, good for a miniscule 0.50 ERA.  She also leads the RMAC with her 1.32 overall ERA.
 
Meanwhile, McKenzie Surface has posted four shutouts in conference play including and a no-hitter and 1-hitter against Chadron State in the Mavericks' last home series on Feb. 25 and 26.  She has a 1.31 ERA in conference play and a 2.23 overall mark to rank third in the conference.  Herring (.203) and Surface (.207) also hold down the top two spots in the RMAC for opposing batting average.
 
If that were not enough, utility player Brooke Hodgson actually has the team's best ERA at 1.05.  However, she does not qualify for the RMAC leaderboard as she has only thrown 20 innings, six shy of the one inning per team game requirement.  However, Hodgson did get her first two innings of pitching work since the Chadron State series on Sunday against UCCS and retired all six batters she faced.
 
Home-Field dominance
 
Impressively, only four of the Mavericks' 26 wins have come at home, where they will play 16 out of 20 games starting this weekend.   The Mavericks are also 12-0 in true away games and 10-0 in neutral-site contests.
 
After sweeping their only home series of the season against Chadron State on Feb. 25-26, the Mavericks now have a 28-game home-field winning streak dating back to the start of the 2017 season.  The Mavericks, who went a perfect 24-0 at home in 2017, have also won 41 straight regular season home games dating back to 2016.  CMU's only two losses in the last 43 home games came in the 2016 RMAC Tournament, which the Mavericks hosted.  CMU also hosted and won the 2017 RMAC Tournament with four straight victories.
 
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 143 wins and a .769 winning percentage in his first 191 games (147-44) at CMU.  The Mavericks, who have advanced to the last two South Central Regional Championship games, are also a combined 114-18 (.863) in RMAC games and 125-22 (.850) 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 28 more RMAC games than any other team in the past 2 ½ seasons (MSU Denver, 58) and have also won 28 more than the Roadrunners (86) 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 Orediggers
 
The Colorado School of Mines Orediggers come into this weekend's series in fourth place in the RMAC standings at 9-7, four games behind third-place Regis, and two games up on MSU Denver and CSU-Pueblo, which are both 7-9.  The Orediggers also stand fourth in the RMAC statistics for both team batting average (.310) and team ERA (3.55).
 
Sophomore Claire Stringfellow is the team pitching ace, at least statistically, and ranks second in the conference for ERA at 2.01.  She has a 6-3 record and has made 12 starts.  However, she has just 24 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings of work.  Hallie Smith has made 14 starts for the Orediggers, completing 12 of them.  She has thrown a team-leading 74 ½ innings and has a 6-5 record and 3.67 ERA.  She has fanned 49 opposing hitters.
 
Offensively, the Orediggers have eight players who are hitting .300 or higher, including Clara Larson, who is hitting at a .396 clip.  She also paces the team with seven home runs, 32 RBI, 11 doubles and her .750 slugging percentage.  Katie Leiker and Brielle Asato are base runners to watch as they have 10 and 9 stolen bases, respectively.  Both have been caught just once.  Larson is also 7-for-9 on stolen base attempts.
 
Up Next
 
After this weekend's series, the Mavericks will remain at home to face Fort Lewis on Friday, Mar. 30 and Saturday, Mar. 31.  They then have a 4-game set at Black Hills State on Apr. 7-8 before playing their next eight at home.