GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After splitting a pair of doubleheaders and the series in a battle of the top two teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings last weekend, the natinon's No. 3 Colorado Mesa University Mavericks will try to clinch a third straight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title when they close out the regular season in Pueblo on Saturday and Sunday against a hungry CSU-Pueblo squad.
 
Doubleheaders at the Thunderwolves' Rawlings Complex are slated for noon on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday.
 
The Mavericks will enter the weekend with 39-3 overall and 29-3 RMAC records and still hold a 2-game lead in the RMAC standings by two games over Colorado Christian (38-9, 28-6 RMAC), who split last weekend's series with the Mavericks.
 
CSU-Pueblo will enter the series with 15-32 overall and 13-23 in RMAC play.  They currently sit in the eighth and final qualifying spot for next week's RMAC Tournament.
 
Two is the Magic Number
 
Assuming both series are fully played, the Mavericks can clinch the RMAC title with two victories over CSU-Pueblo, two losses from Colorado Christian in the Cougars' series at Mines or a combination of one of each.   If the Mavericks are able to clinch the title, it would be their third straight outright crown, a feat not accomplished in the RMAC since Nebraska-Kearney won four official RMAC titles from 1996-99 after claiming a 1995 Mile High Intercollegiate Softball League title before the RMAC officially sponsored the sport.
 
The RMAC's regular season champion also has the right to host the 3-day, double-elimination RMAC Tournament that begins next Thursday (May 3).
 
Colorado Mines did win 2012 and 2013 RMAC titles after sharing the top spot with MSU Denver in 2012.  MSU Denver had won the 2010 and 2011 crowns.
 
The Mavericks have won 10 official RMAC Championships, the most of any program.
 
Remaining atop the region
 
The Mavericks remained in the No. 1 spot of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Rankings for the second straight week, it was announced on Wednesday.  That puts the Mavericks in the pole position to potentially host both a 4-team regional from May 10-12 and a best-of-three Super Regional series on May 17-18.
 
Angelo State moved up a spot to No. 2 in the rankings after a key 3-game Lone Star Conference series sweep of Texas A&M-Commerce, which slipped a spot to fifth.  Former No. 2 West Texas A&M also suffered through a 1-4 weekend and dropped a spot to third while Tarleton State moved up to fourth after a 5-0 week.
 
After splitting the series with the Mavericks, Colorado Christian moved up two spots to sixth in the rankings passing both Cameron and Regis, who are seventh and eighth, respectively.  Rogers State and Texas A&M-Kingsville moved into the rankings, which will determine the at-large selections and seedings for the regional portion of the NCAA Division II tournament.
 
The winners of the Heartland, Lone Star and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournaments will receive automatic bids to the NCAA Division II Tournament.  The regional rankings will be updated again next Wednesday before final selections are announced on Monday, May 6.
 
10 Straight in the top 3
 
After splitting last weekend's series, the Mavericks did expectedly drop slightly in the NFCA Division II Top 25 Poll after occupying the top spot for the previous seven weeks.  However, the Mavericks still received one of the 16 first place votes and are in the No. 3 position for the third time this season.  The Mavericks, who received 372 points in the poll, had also been ranked third in the Week No. 1 and 2 polls after sitting eighth in the preseason. 
 
They have been ranked in the top three for all 10 regular season polls this season.
 
North Georgia (49-2) picked up 14 first place votes to top the poll for the first time this season with 398 points.  Chico State (43-3), riding an 18-game winning streak, also moved up a spot to second with 379 points.
 
Southern Arkansas (43-5) and North Alabama (40-4) remained in the No. 4 and 5 spots.
 
Further down the poll, Angelo State remained in the No. 6 spots as the second of five South Central Regional teams in the top 15.  That group includes No. 12 West Texas A&M, No. 13 Texas A&M-Commerce and No. 15 Tarleton State.
 
The Mavericks hold wins over four other teams currently in the poll defeating 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 then defeated No. 11 California Baptist and No. 16 Concordia Irvine on the following weekend at the Dixie State Easton Classic.
 
Colorado Christian, is once again in the "receiving votes" category of the poll, and just outside the top 25 with 24 points.
 
Surface is on top… as a junior
 
Junior McKenzie Surface became CMU's all-time winningest pitcher on Saturday when the Mavericks posted a 10-3 win in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader against Colorado Christian.  The victory was the 19^th of her season and 68^th of her Maverick career to this point, one more than 1998-2001 standout Melanie Meuchel had in her four years as a Maverick.  Surface's 68 career wins are also fourth most in RMAC history, just 10 shy of the record of 78 currently held by Regis' Kaitlyn Gentert
(2005-08).
 
Standing out in the classroom
 
The Mavericks are not only leading the conference standings, but are also at the head of their class, academically. Led by repeat RMAC Academic Player of the Year McKenzie Surface, the Mavericks had a RMAC-high six First Team and conference-leading overall selections to the RMAC's All-Academic Team that was announced on Wednesday. 
 
Joining Surface on the 12-player first team were Hailey Hinson, Brooke Hodgson, Kaila Jacobi, Magie Manwarren and Zoe Pakes.  No other RMAC school had more than three first team selections (Regis). 
 
The Mavericks 13 overall selections were also four more than Regis.
 
Team battle
 
Brooke Hodgson and Maggie Manwarren are locked in a battle for the NCAA lead in runs scored.  Both have scored 65 runs thus far and are tied for the national lead in runs per game (1.55).  They are both already tied for ninth in RMAC history with their 65 runs scored and just eight runs away from matching the CMU and RMAC record of 73, the latter of which is shared by CMU's Kelly Adams (2000) and UCCS' Stacy Haney (2007).
 
Symbiotic relationship
 
Hodgson, who has hit mostly in the No. 3 spot in the Maverick lineup this season, is also leading the country in RBIs with 80, 10 more than her own former school-record of 70, which was set in 2017.  A large part of that can be attributed to how well Manwarren and No. 2 hitter Alexandria Dufour have done at getting on and advancing bases.  Manwarren is third in the conference with her .471 batting average and ranks fourth in the RMAC with her .532 on-base percentage.  She also leads the RMAC with 39 stolen bases and has been caught just once.
 
Meanwhile, Dufour is hitting a solid .389, has stolen 16 bases in 19 attempts and leads the RMAC with nine sacrifice hits, three more than any other player in the conference.  She has also scored 52 runs which would lead every other team in the RMAC, certainly aided by the RBI abilities of Hodgson and cleanup hitter AnnMarie Torres, who stands third in the RMAC with 58 RBIs.
 
NFCA Top 25
 
Hodgson was named to the Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II Player of the Year Top 25 finalists list, which was announced by the organization earlier this week.  The reigning RMAC Player of the Year and 2018 Preseason RMAC Player of the Year was the only RMAC player to have made the cut is leading the country in RBIs (80), RBIs per game (1.9), total bases (142) and as mentioned above, is tied with Maggie Manwarren for the lead in runs per game.  She also ranks third in the nation for batting average (.532), doubles (20), hits (76) and stands fifth for slugging percentage (.986) and ninth for on-base percentage (.564).
 
In her career, Hodgson has driven in 266 runs and set broke both the CMU and RMAC record for career RBIs on Mar. 25 against Mines.  She has more career RBIs than any other active NCAA Division II player, is now third 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.  Hodgson's total of 80 is already the second best single-season RMAC history.

What a staff
 
The Mavericks pitching strength does not only come from McKenzie Surface.  CMU's other two pitchers Kimbri Herring and Brooke Hodgson have also got the job done in the circle this year. 
 
Herring's 2018 numbers are comparable to Surface and in many cases even better.  The Stansbury, Utah native who spent her first collegiate season at Snow College before transferring to CMU for the 2017 season, leads the RMAC with her 1.90 ERA and has held opponents to a RMAC-low .208 batting average.  She is 15-1 with five shutouts and also ranks fifth in the entire country for strikeouts per seven innings at 9.7 after she has fanned 123 in her 88 1/3 innings.
 
Meanwhile, utility player Brooke Hodgson has posted a 4-1 record and 1.15 ERA in her 36 2/3 innings, spanning 10 appearances and five starts in the circle.  She does not quite qualify for the RMAC ERA title because she has not thrown an inning for every team game (42) but does has the best ERA on the team.
 
As a staff, the Mavericks are leading the RMAC by a wide margin in ERA (1.89), opposing batting average (.213), in addition to multiple other categories, including strikeouts (280)
 
Mercy, Mercy
 
The Mavericks' 12-0, 5-inning win over Regis was their 21^th mercy-rule victory of the season.  CMU has ended exactly half of their games early, including 11 in five innings and another 10 in six.
 
In their 32 RMAC games, the Mavericks have outscored their opponents by a combined 268 runs (326-58), winning by an average of 8.38 per.  The Mavericks have won 18 of their 32 conference games via the mercy-rule.
 
Overall, the Mavericks have scored a nation-leading 418 runs while conceding just 91 and are ranked second in the nation for scoring average at 9.95 runs per game, trailing only Benedict (S.C.), which has put up 10.24 per contest en-route to a 22-12 campaign thus far.
 
On pace
 
As a team, the Mavericks are on pace to break the RMAC record of 418 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 four regular season games and the two they are guaranteed in the RMAC Tournament, the Mavericks need to average just 5.67 runs per game to do so, well below their current scoring pace of nearly ten (9.95) per game.  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 .408 batting average is an incredible 39 points higher than the current RMAC mark of .369, which CMU set last year and would be the best team batting average for any NCAA Division II squads in nine seasons since Bowie State hit .409 in 2009.
 
The Mavericks have already combined to hit 110 doubles this season, good for a national-leading 2.62 per game average, which would end up as the fifth best team average in NCAA Division II history.  The Mavericks are just two doubles away from the RMAC record for doubles in a season is 112, set by Mines in 2009.
 
The Mavericks' team slugging percentage of .662 also leads the country and would end up as the seventh best team mark in Division II history and above the current RMAC record of .654, held by the 2001 Maverick team.
 
Balance of power
 
As a team, the Mavericks have hit 58 home runs this season to lead the RMAC and rank fifth in the country for home runs per game (1.36).  In total, eleven different Maverick players have gone long this season.  Five have hit five or more, including RMAC co-leader Brooke Hodgson (14) and AnnMarie Torres, who has hit 12 to rank fourth in the conference.
 
Glove work
 
Although the offense is certainly in strong form, the Mavericks are also playing superb defense.  They are ranked 11th nationally and atop the RMAC with their .972 fielding percentage.  The Mavericks have committed just 29 errors all season, tied for fourth fewest in the nation.
 
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 160 wins and a .773 winning percentage in his first 207 games (160-47) at CMU.  The Mavericks, who have advanced to the last two South Central Regional Championship games, are also a combined 127-21 (.858) in RMAC games and 138-25 (.847) 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 99 RMAC games in the past three years, 24 more than any other team in the past three seasons (MSU Denver, 75), and have also won 24 more than the Roadrunners (100) 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 ThunderWolves
 
The ThunderWolves (15-32, 13-23 RMAC) enter the weekend after splitting a 4-game series with Fort Lewis last weekend in Durango.  They have won six of their last eight, to break into the top eight of the current RMAC standings, but are just percentage points ahead of ninth-place Black Hills State (9-19 RMAC), which has played eight fewer RMAC games, and have the same number of losses as Chadron State (10-23 RMAC)
 
Junior Michaela Burpee is the team's leading hitter with her .390 batting average.  She also paces the team with 11 doubles and 29 RBIs.  Sophomore Gabby Moreno is second on the team in batting average at .387 and leads the team with 27 stolen bases and 34 runs scored.
 
Senior K'Lee Kent leads the Pack's pitching staff.  She is 9-13 and has a 4.16 ERA and has thrown 151 1/3 innings in 38 appearance, including 23 starts.    Hannah Anderson has made 29 appearances, including 19 starts, and has posted a 4-14 record and 4.89 ERA over 116 innings pitched.
 
Up Next 

After this weekend's series, the Mavericks' attention will turn to the post-season, which they will hope to be hosting.  That 8-team, 3-day, double-elimination tournament begins Thursday (May 2) at the No. 1 seed.  The tournament winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.