Colorado Mesa will host the MSU Denver Roadrunners in the final regular season series in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The two teams squared off on March 13 in a non-conference matchup over in Denver where Colorado Mesa prevailed 8-2.

The Roadrunners took three of the four games against Colorado Christian last weekend in Lakewood at All-Star Park. They outscored the Cougars 38-17 in the series. 

MSU Denver comes into the weekend batting .302 as a team which ranks fifth in the conference. Donny Ortiz Jr. is one of the best hitters in the conference, sporting a .388 batting average and slugging at a .606 clip. Trent Maloney is the power hitter in the middle of the lineup with a team best eight home runs. 

On the mound, the Roadrunners have a 6.79 ERA in 44 games and rank seventh in the conference in total strikeouts this season. Although the team numbers may not be outstanding, they possess a true ace in Logan Soole who has a 3.11 ERA with opponents batting just .229 against him.

LAST WEEKEND
The Mavericks took three of the four games against the former Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference number one team, the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers. Colorado Mesa hit .362 with 25 extra base-hits including 13 home runs. The CMU pitching staff had a 6.39 ERA in one of the most hitter friendly parks in the conference. 

HISTORY WITH THE ROADRUNNERS
Colorado Mesa will be squaring off against one of the hotter teams in the RMAC and maybe the team with the most to gain this weekend. The Roadrunners have an outside shot of winning the RMAC title but it would take a series sweep and help for them to do so. The Mavericks are 21-5 in the last four seasons against MSU Denver including a 3-1 record in 2017 and a 1-0 record this season as CMU defeated MSUD 8-2 in a non-RMAC game.

BOMBS AWAY
Colorado Mesa tied the school record for home runs hit in a single game when they pounded out seven in the 21-8 win over Colorado School of Mines on Sunday. The last time that happened occurred on February 9, 2007 when the Mavericks defeated Cal State LA 18-8 at Dixie High School in the RMAC-CCAA Crossover Tournament in St. George, Utah. 

RMAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Maverick freshman Jordan Stubbings tore his way through the Oredigger pitching staff over the weekend. Stubbings batted .556 (10-for-18) with eight of his 10 hits going for extra bases including four home runs to up his team-high season total to nine. He had an OPS of 2.044 and drove in 14 during the series win. He was not only awarded RMAC Player of the Week for his efforts but NCBWA Regional Hitter of the Week as well.

800
During the UCCS series, head coach Chris Hanks won his 800th game as the skipper of Colorado Mesa University. Hanks' first win came on February 11, 1999, a 9-6 win over Division I Southern Utah in St. George, Utah.

REGIONAL RANKINGS
The next batch of NCAA Regional Rankings were released on Wednesday this week and the Mavericks moved up in those rankings. Colorado Mesa now sits in third in the rankings with Arkansas Fort Smith still sitting atop the rankings. West Texas A&M is second with Texas A&M-Kingsville fourth, Colorado School of Mines fifth and Angelo State sixth.

50
The Mavericks set a program record a year ago by going 50-12 during the 2017 campaign. The 50 wins was a program first and ending up leading the nation in wins. The 50th win may not have come against a grander opponent in top ranked Delta State in the NCAA Division II World Series.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
Colorado Mesa dropped back another spot to No. 14 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper coach's poll despite the 3-1 series win over No. 30 Colorado School of Mines. The Mavericks are No. 10 in the Perfect Game poll and checked back into the Writer's poll at No. 23. 

THE SKIPPER
Head coach Chris Hanks enters his 20th season guiding the Mavericks and has an impressive 820-341 record, most in program history. In 2017, he guided the Mavericks to their third NCAA Division II World Series and their ninth straight NCAA Tournament. The feat earned him ABCA South Central Region Coach of the year, an honor he has earned three times now.

UP NEXT
Colorado Mesa will head into the RMAC Tournament next week and depending on this week's outcomes could be the tournament host and number one seed. The Mavericks must be equal to or better than Colorado School of Mines, who face Regis this week. The tournament will begin Wednesday.