GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After breaking the school-record for the most consecutive wins with a series sweep of the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers last weekend, the nation's top-ranked Colorado Mesa University softball squad will look to extend the streak when they host Fort Lewis College for an Easter weekend series at the CMU Softball Stadium.
 
The Mavericks, who are 30-0 overall and atop the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings with a 20-0 league mark, will host the Skyhawks in doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday.  Friday's doubleheader has been pushed back to 2 p.m.  Saturday's will commence at 11 a.m.
 
Fort Lewis will enter the weekend with 10-24 overall and 4-16 RMAC marks after splitting a 4-game home series with Adams State last weekend.
 
Record setter
 
CMU senior Brooke Hodgson became the CMU and RMAC record-holder for career RBIs on Saturday as she hit two home runs while driving in five runs in the Mavericks' 12-3 second game win over the Orediggers.  She also had an RBI in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader and added four more in a 4-for-5 effort against the Orediggers in Sunday's first game to finish the series with 10, which gives her 63 RBI this year and 249 for her career.
 
2013-16 standout and former teammate Makayla Kovac had held the career records of 244.
 
Hodgson, who has more RBIs than any other active NCAA Division II player, is now tied for fourth in the national record book and can realistically reach the No. 2 spot, currently held by Kaitlyn Bannister, who finished her 4-year career at Alabama-Huntsville in 2017 with 273.  Jackie Aiken of Wisconsin-Parkside (1994-97) holds the national record of 344.
 
Team Record
 
A day after Hodgson broke her record, the Mavs broke yet another school and RMAC record as they won their 29^th and 30^th consecutive games on Sunday.  Having to come from 8-6 down through 4 ½ innings, the Mavericks scored one run in the bottom of the fifth and six more in the sixth to claim a 13-8 first game win, which matched the 2016 CMU squad's mid-season streak of 29 consecutive victories.  The Mavericks then scored five first inning runs in Game 2 en-route to a 10-2 run-rule, 6-inning victory to set the record.
 
The 30-game win streak is tied for the 17^th longest in NCAA Division II history.  Northern Kentucky holds the record of 55 in 2005.
 
More than an entire team
 
Incredibly, Hodgson's 63 RBI this season are the most of any player in all of NCAA Division II this year and are incredibly more than RMAC member Black Hills State as an entire team.  The Yellowjackets have 61 in their 24 games this year.
 
With 20 regular season games still to come on the schedule, plus any post-season games the Mavericks may qualify for, Hodgson has a good chance at breaking the RMAC and perhaps even Aiken's NCAA Division II single-season record.  Hodgson is just six RBI short of moving into the RMAC's top-10 for single-season RBI and 30 away from the record of 93, set by Stacy Haney of UCCS in 2007.
 
Haney's total is also the sixth best in NCAA Division II history.  Aiken set the national record in 1995 with 110 and is one of just two NCAA Division II players to ever reach 100 (Marti Littlefield, Valdosta State (Ga.), 2009, 103).
 
Hodgson already holds the CMU record of 70, set last year.
 
It all starts at the top
 
Much of CMU's success this season can be attributed to their quick-strike abilities and lead-off hitter Maggie Manwarren, who has put early pressure on opposing hitters.  The Mavericks have out-scored their opponents 51-5 in the first inning and 56-5 in the second inning this season.  Manwarren, the team's lead-off hitter in all 30 games, is second on the team with a .485 batting average second best in the conference and only behind Brooke Hodgson.  She also is tied for the RMAC lead with 29 stolen bases and has been caught just once.
 
Manwarren is also second in the RMAC for runs scored (trailing only Hodgson, 52) and has scored a run in each of the Mavericks' last nine games.  When leading off an inning, Manwarren has reached safely more than 60 percent of the time (26-43).
 
No. 2 does the job
 
Maverick second baseman Alexandria Dufour has started all 30 games in the No. 2 spot of the lineup.  She is hitting .379 and leads the RMAC with seven sacrifice hits.  She has also stolen 11 bases without being caught.  Dufour has also successfully moved runners 53 times in 83 opportunities this season, a 63.9 percent rate.
 
Four 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 fourth straight week that has seen the Mavericks at the top.
 
CMU picked up two more first place votes in the polling of 16 member coaches from around the country in this week's poll and now have 398 total points.  They are also receiving 14 of the 16 possible first place votes and were selected second by the other two coaches.  North Georgia (36-1) is receiving the other two first place votes and sits second with 386 points.
 
CMU received 12 of the 16 first place votes in last week's (Mar. 21) poll.
 
Elsewhere in the poll, Chico State (Calif.) (31-3) remained in the No. 3 spot while Angelo State (Texas) (29-4) and Dixie State (22-2) both moved up a spot to fourth and fifth.
 
The Mavericks hold wins over three other teams currently in the poll, defeating both Angelo State and No. 9 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 slipped a spot to 24^th in this week's poll.
 
Despite losing their first conference game to UCCS on Sunday, Colorado Christian is now in the receiving votes category for the first time this season.
 
CMU has been in the top 10 for all seven 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' 30-0 start to this season is the best program's history.
 
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 22-8 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 26-4 while the 2002 team went 25-5 in their first 30 games of the season.
 
Balance of power
 
The Mavericks have hit 50 home runs this season to lead the RMAC and rank third nationally.  Brooke Hodgson is tied for the conference lead with 11 while AnnMarie Torres ranks third in the conference with nine.  In total, eleven different Maverick players have gone long this season.  Five have hit five or more.
 
Domination of the 'Diggers
 
With last weekend's sweep, the Mavericks have now won 22 straight games against the Colorado School of Mines dating back to the 2014 season.   Current Maverick coach Bennie Garcia is 18-0 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 before this weekend's sweep.
 
Sweeping the Skyhawks
 
The Mavericks have also dominated this week's opponent Fort Lewis as of late.  Ben Garcia is a perfect 13-0 against the Skyhawks in his tenure as CMU has swept 4-game conference series in each of the last three seasons while winning a neutral-site game on Feb. 6, 2015 in Tucson, Ariz. as well.
 
Fort Lewis' last win in the rivalry came in the first round of the 2014 RMAC Tournament in Grand Junction.
 
Top 10 pitcher
 
With still a full season and a half left in her career, CMU junior pitcher McKenzie Surface already ranks amongst the RMAC's top 10 all-time players in several different statistical categories.  She has 64 career wins in, fifth most in RMAC history just three shy of the CMU record of 67, set by Melanie Meuchel, now the head coach at Division I Montana.   The RMAC record is 78.
 
Surface has also completed 57 of her 74 career starts to tie Meuchel's complete games school-record and sit in a tie for fifth place in RMAC history.  The RMAC record is 94.
 
Surface also sits eighth in RMAC history with 440 career strikeouts, tallying more than 100 in each of her three seasons, including 101 this season.  Surface broke the CMU career record as a sophomore.
 
Run-rule wins
 
Half (15) of the Maverick's 30 wins this season have come via the run-rule including two in last weekend's series against Mines.  The Mavericks outscored the Orediggers 41-18 in the series after outscoring UCCS and New Mexico Highlands by a combined 103-4 margin in the two previous weeks.
 
In their 20 RMAC wins, the Mavericks have outscored the opposition by a massive combined 200 runs (233-33), an average of exactly 10 per game.
 
Overall, the Mavericks have scored a nation-leading 325 runs while conceding just 65 and are ranked second in the nation for scoring average at 10.83 runs per game.
 
The Mavericks have won 12 of their 20 conference games via the run rule.
 
The reasons behind the success
 
The reason why the Mavericks are such highly ranked 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 (2.67), slugging percentage (.689) and stand third in on-base percentage (.474) and third in home runs per game (1.67).
 
CMU has a team batting average of. 431 in their 20 conference games and has hit over .400 in each of their past four series.
 
Finding a way to win
 
Prior to Saturday, when the Mavericks trailed 5-4 through 5 ½ innings before rallying for a 6-5 series-opening win over Mines with two runs in the bottom of the sixth, the Mavericks had yet to trail in any RMAC game.  They also trailed 1-0 after the top of the first and 8-6 after 4 ½ innings of Sunday's first game but scored the final seven runs, including six in the sixth, to maintain their perfect record.
 
Glove work
 
Although the offense is certainly in strong form, the Mavericks are also playing superb defense.  They are ranked fourth nationally with their .980 fielding percentage.  The Mavericks have committed just 15 errors all season.
 
Home-Field dominance
 
Impressively, only eight of the Mavericks' 30 wins have come at home, where they will play 12 out of 16 of their next 16 games.   The Mavericks are also 12-0 in true away games and 10-0 in neutral-site contests.
 
After sweeping their only two home series of the season against Chadron State on Feb.25-26 and last weekend against Mines, the Mavericks now have a 32-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 45 straight regular season home games dating back to 2016.  CMU's only two losses in the last 47 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 151 wins and a .774 winning percentage in his first 195 games (151-44) at CMU.  The Mavericks, who have advanced to the last two South Central Regional Championship games, are also a combined 118-18 (.868) in RMAC games and 129-22 (.854) 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, 62) and have also won 28 more than the Roadrunners (90) 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 Skyhawks
 
The Fort Lewis College Skyhawks enter the weekend series with 10-24 and 4-16 RMAC records but have won three of their last five games after splitting a pair of doubleheaders against Adams State last weekend after taking the final game of a 4-game series with Regis in Denver on Mar. 18.  Prior to this stretch, they had dropped 12 straight games.
 
The Skyhawks have regularly thrown four pitchers, who all have between 42 and 67 innings pitched.    Mandy Lorenson, who is 5-5 with a 4.55 ERA and a team-high 53 strikeouts has the best overall numbers.  Kendra Keahbone leads the team with 67 innings pitched, 11 starts and six complete games.  She is 3-7 with a 4.91 ERA.
 
The Skyhawk offensive attack is 11th in the RMAC for batting average at .252.  Five different players, including three regular starters, are hitting over .300.  Lauren Caldwell leads the bunch at .337 and also has 12 doubles to be in a tie for fourth in the RMAC.  Angelique Elemen also has fared well with a .320 batting average to go along with her .640 slugging percentage.  She leads the team with eight homers and 25 RBI.
 
Denae Fisher and Allison Young have good speed and are a combined 28 for 33 on stolen base attempts.  Fisher is 19-for-22 and has drawn a team-leading 12 walks.  Young is hitting .319 and has three doubles and three triples.
 
Up Next
 
After this weekend's series, the Mavericks will head out on the road for their only 4-game road-swing in a 5-week stretch to face Black Hills State on Apr. 7-8.  The Mavericks then return home for the next eight games to face Regis (Apr. 14-15) and Colorado Christian (Apr. 21-22), who currently sit just behind the Mavericks in the RMAC standings.