GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After an unexpected weekend off due to the cancellation of last weekend's series at Black Hills State, the nation's top-ranked Colorado Mesa University Mavericks will resume what has now turned into a 16-game home-stand this weekend against Regis.

Doubleheaders at the CMU Softball Stadium will begin at Noon on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday.
 
The Mavericks last played on Easter weekend (Mar. 30-31), shutting out visiting Fort Lewis College in four straight mercy-rule victories while outscoring the Skyhawks, 46-0.  Those victories allowed CMU to extend their overall and home-field winning streaks to 34 and 36 games, respectively.
 
The Mavericks will enter this weekend's series with a perfect 34-0 overall record and are 24-0 in the RMAC.
 
Regis (26-14, 21-7 RMAC), which took three of four games from second-place Colorado Christian (32-7, 22-4 RMAC) last weekend, is in third place in the conference standings.
 
Now it's unanimous
 
Although they have now been ranked No. 1 for six straight weeks in the NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll, the Mavericks had not previously been a unanimous selection.
 
That changed on Wednesday as the Mavericks received all 16 first place votes and 400 points in the polling of member coaches from around the country.  They had been receiving 14 of the 16 possible first place votes for the past two editions of the polls.
 
North Georgia (45-2), which suffered their second loss of the campaign in a Sunday doubleheader against Young Harris (Ga.), remained in the No. 2 spot with 380 points.  The rest of the top five also stayed the same with Chico State (35-3), Palm Beach Atlantic (27-3) and Southern Arkansas (38-4) occupying the No. 3-5 spots, respectively.
 
Dixie State, up a spot, to No. 6, and Texas A&M-Commerce flip-flopped spots while North Alabama, Angelo State and Winona State round out the top 10.
 
The Mavericks hold wins over three other teams currently in the poll, defeating 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 three spots to No. 14 in this week's poll.
 
CMU has been in the top 10 for all nine polls this season, including the preseason.  They were ranked third in the Week No. 1 and 2 polls after sitting eighth in the preseason.
 
One to tie, two to break a second record
 
CMU senior Brooke Hodgson, who became the CMU and RMAC record-holder for career RBIs on Mar. 25 against Mines, is now just one RBI away from tying and two from breaking her own single-season record, with 12 regular season games and any post-season games the Mavericks qualify for still remaining on the schedule.  Hodgson had six RBIs in the series against Fort Lewis and now has 69 this season to lead NCAA Division II by two.  She recorded 70 RBI in 2017 and now has 255 for her career.
 
Hodgson, who has more RBIs than any other active NCAA Division II player, is now 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.
 
Aiken also holds the NCAA Division II single-season record of 110 set in 1995.  The RMAC record for single-season RBIs is 93, set by UCCS's Stacy Haney in 2007.
 
One win away
 
Junior pitcher McKenzie Surface enters this weekend tied for RMAC lead wins with 17 and is just one shy of matching Melanie Meuchel's school-record of 67 career wins.  The RMAC record for career wins is 78.
 
Surface, who entered her junior season with 49 career wins, also paces the RMAC with six shutouts this season, picking up a pair of 2-hit shutouts in the series against Fort Lewis to earn her third RMAC and second Fastpitch News NCAA Division II Pitcher of the Week honor of the season.
 
Surface broke Meuchel's school-record for complete games against Fort Lewis and now has completed 59 of her 76 career starts to rank fifth in the RMAC for career complete games.
 
She has also tallied 122 strikeouts this season and 461 in her career to sit eighth in RMAC history.  Surface had set the CMU school-record for career strikeouts as a sophomore en-route to RMAC Co-Pitcher of the Year and her second straight First Team All-RMAC honor.
 
Run-rule wins
 
After recording run-rule wins in each of the four games against Fort Lewis, the Mavericks have not tallied an incredible 19 mercy-rule victories this season, doing so 55.9 percent of the time.
 
In their 24 RMAC wins, the Mavericks have outscored their opponents by a combined 242 runs (275-33), by an average of 10.08 per.  The Mavericks have won 16 of their 24 conference games via the mercy-rule.
 
Overall, the Mavericks have scored a nation-leading 367 runs while conceding just 65 and are ranked second in the nation for scoring average at 10.79 runs per game, trailing only Benedict (S.C.), which has put up 11.29 per.
 
On pace
 
As a team, the Mavericks are on pace to break the RMAC record of 452 runs scored in a season, a mark held by the 2010 MSU Denver squad, which went 53-6 while advancing to the Division II College World Series. 
 
Assuming the Mavericks play their remaining 12 regular season games and the two they are guaranteed in the RMAC Tournament, which they have now clinched a spot in, the Mavericks need to average just 6.07 runs per game to do so, well below their current scoring pace.  With the Mavericks likely to qualify for NCAA Tournament play as well, that per game average mark drops even further.
 
National leaders on pace to set other RMAC records
 
The Mavericks are also on pace to set several other RMAC single-season records as well.  Their current national-leading .419 batting average is an incredible 50 points higher than the current RMAC mark of .369, which CMU set last year and would put them 10^th on the all-time NCAA Division II chart for team batting average.  It would also be the best team batting average for any NCAA Division II squads in 14 seasons since Kentucky State hit .439 in 2004.
 
The Mavericks have already combined to hit 96 doubles this season, good for a national-leading 2.82 per game average, which would end up as the fourth best team average in NCAA Division II history.  The RMAC record for doubles in a season is 112, set by Mines in 2009.
 
The Mavericks' team slugging percentage of .694 also leads the country and would end up as the fifth best team mark in Division II history and well above the current RMAC record of .654, held by the 2001 Maverick team.
 
Quick-strike attack
 
The Mavericks have played much of the season from leading positions as they have out-scored their opponents 62-5 in the first inning and 63-5 in the second inning this season.  CMU has only trailed in two of their 24 conference games and seven games overall.
 
Top three hitters
 
The Mavericks have the RMAC's top three hitters, according to batting average with Brooke Hodgson's .549 clip leading the way, which would match the RMAC single-season record, set in 1993 by Adams State's Amy Tjaarda.
 
Maggie Manwarren, the team's lead-off hitter in all 34 games, is second on the team and in the conference and 10^th nationally with her .487 batting average while Hailey Hinson ranks third in the conference at .457.    The Mavericks also have four other starters hitting over .400 and have five of the RMAC's top nine hitters overall.
 
Get on, move them over and drive them in
 
Much of the Mavericks' success can be attributed to the make-up of the Mavericks' lineup, especially at the top.  Maggie Manwarren is second in the RMAC and 15^th nationally with her.569 on-base percentage.  She also leads the country in runs scored (59) and runs per game (1.74) and is on pace to smash the RMAC record for single-seasons runs scored (73).
 
She also leads the RMAC with 35 stolen bases, which is already the eighth-best single-season total in RMAC history.
 
When she does not swipe second base on her own accord, she's often been moved over by Maverick No. 2 hitter Alexandria Dufour, who leads the RMAC with eight sacrifice hits while hitting at a solid .405 clip as well.  Dufour has also stolen 14 bases and has only been caught once and is third in the RMAC with total runs scored (47).
 
Two of the nation's top ten run-producers then follow in the Maverick lineup with Hodgson (see notes above) and sophomore clean-up hitter AnnMarie Torres, who is second in the RMAC and eighth nationally with 50 RBIs this season.  Torres also ranks second behind Hodgson in the RMAC for slugging percentage and is tied for third in the conference with 11 home runs.  She is hitting .404 on the year.
 
Triple crown possibility
 
Brooke Hodgson has a chance at winning the RMAC's "triple crown" this year as she leads the RMAC by wide margins in batting average and RBI's and is second behind Adams State's Taylor Hays, a Grand Junction native, in home runs.  Hodgson has 12 bombs this season, just one fewer than Hays, who prevented Hodgson from winning last year's "triple crown" when she hit .493 overall.  Hodgson, who was third in batting average behind Hays and teammate Sarah Phillis last year led the RMAC with 19 homers and 70 RBI in 2017.
 
Hodgson also leads the RMAC this year in total hits (67), slugging percentage (1.025), on-base percentage (.569), doubles (18) and total bases (125).  She is also second in the RMAC behind only Manwarren in runs scored (56).
 
Best Start Continues
 
The Mavericks' 34-0 start to this season is the best program's history and is good for their longest winning streak in school and RMAC history as well.
 
The 34-game winning streak is five games longer than CMU's mid-2016 winning streak of 29 straight games and is tied for the 11^th longest in Division II 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 26-8 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 30-4 while the 2002 team went 29-5 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 in both total round-trippers (tied) and homers per game (1.53).  In total, eleven different Maverick players have gone long this season.  Five have hit five or more.
 
Sweeping the Skyhawks
 
The Mavericks domination of Fort Lewis continued this year.  Fourth-year CMU Coach is now a perfect 17-0 against the Skyhawks in his tenure as CMU has swept 4-game conference series in each of the last four 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.
 
Glove work
 
Although the offense is certainly in strong form, the Mavericks are also playing superb defense.  They are ranked fifth nationally and atop the RMAC with their .977 fielding percentage.  The Mavericks have committed just 19 errors all season.
 
Home-Field dominance
 
Impressively, only 12 of the Mavericks' 34 wins have come at home, where they will play their next eight.  The Mavericks are also 12-0 in true away games and 10-0 in neutral-site contests this season.
 
After sweeping all three of their home series this year against Chadron State, Mines and Fort Lewis, the Mavericks now have a 36-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 49 straight regular season home games dating back to 2016.  CMU's only two losses in the last 51 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 and will coach his 200^th CMU game on Saturday.  Named as the RMAC Coach of the Year in 2016, he has guided the Mavericks to 155 wins and a .779 winning percentage in his first 199 games (155-44) at CMU.  The Mavericks, who have advanced to the last two South Central Regional Championship games, are also a combined 122-18 (.871) in RMAC games and 133-22 (.858) 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 25 more RMAC games than any other team in the past 2 ½ seasons (MSU Denver, 69) and have also won 25 more than the Roadrunners (97) 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 Rangers
 
The Rangers come into this pivotal series third in the RMAC standings at 21-7.  They are 26-14 overall and are hot off taking three victories in a 4-game series with metro Denver rival Colorado Christian last weekend.  Pitcher Logan Losh recorded her first collegiate no-hitter on Saturday and earned RMAC Pitcher of the Week honors after allowing just three hits while picking up two wins in 14 2/3 innings in the circle throughout the series with the Cougars.  Overall, Losh is 15-5 with a 2.09 ERA, the second best mark in the conference.  She is also second in innings pitched (123.2) and third in wins while ranking fifth in the conference for strikeouts (94) and opposing batting average (.238).
 
Losh, a senior, shared RMAC Pitcher of the Year honors with CMU's Surface in 2017 after transferring from Division I Colorado State.
 
Offensively, the Rangers are hitting .319 as a team to rank third in the conference.  They also lead the conference with 104 stolen bases, thanks in large part to senior Melissa Heronema, who is second in the conference with 34, just one fewer than CMU's Maggie Manwarren.  Heronema has yet to be caught and is hitting .318 with the bat.  She also ranks second on the team with 31 RBI.
 
Three different Rangers have seven home runs, including Analece Apodaca, who paces the team with 32 RBI while hitting at a .374 clip.  Jaiden Johnson also has seven home runs and is leading the team with her .439 batting, .829 slugging and .505 on-base percentages.  She has also swiped 11 bases and is one of five Rangers with 10 or more thefts.
 
The Mavericks have won seven of the last eight games against the Rangers, sweeping a 2017 home series before taking three of four last year in Denver. 
 
Up Next
 
After this weekend's series, the Mavericks will remain at home to play their final home series of the regular season against Colorado Christian, currently second in the RMAC, three games and four losses behind the Mavericks at 22-4 in conference play.  That series will be played on Apr. 21 and 22.