WEEKEND RECAP
Colorado Mesa swept a four-game series from Great Northwest Athletic Conference foe Montana State Billings for the home opening series at Suplizio Field. The Mavericks won the first two games of the series by one run each including an 8-7, 12 inning win in game two. Colorado Mesa batted .410 in the series but struck out over eight times per game in the series. The pitching staff had a 3.65 team ERA and had a 1.0 strikeout to inning pitched ratio. 

SCOUTING THE SUNBIRDS
The No. 12 Colorado Mesa baseball team will head out West to take on the PacWest Conference's Fresno Pacific Sunbirds in a four-game series beginning on Thursday evening at FPU Diamond in Fresno, Calif. This will be the first meeting between the two teams as last season's scheduled two -game series was cancelled due to weather.

The Sunbirds opened the season with a pair of losses to West Region power Chico State in a rain shortened two-game series followed by a series win over fellow NorCal foe Sonoma State. Last weekend, Fresno Pacific was scheduled to host GNAC foe Western Oregon but weather washed that series out.

Senior Tristan Alvarez leads the Sunbirds at the plate with a .429 batting average and an OPS north of 1.000. The Madera, Calif. native had five hits and three runs driven in the opening game of the Sonoma State series.

Esteban Lizaola will be the likely game one starter for Fresno Pacific. He sports a 2.38 ERA in 11.1 innings pitched.

WELCOME BACK 
Senior transfer Garrett Hutson made his first start on the mound this season for Colorado Mesa. Hutson was excellent, pitching five and two-thirds innings and allowed one earned run, on four hits, walked one and struck out 10. Hutson isnt a stranger to Suplizio Field as he pitched for both San Jacinto and Cowley County in the JUCO World Series at Suplizio Field. The El Dorado, Kan. native earned a win on the mound for both the Gators and the Tigers at Suplizio Field. 

DUBBYA
Senior utility man Will Dixon has played three positions so far this season but turned in his best pitching performance in two seasons in game two of the series. The Highlands Ranch native pitched four hitless innings and allowed just a walk and a hit batter while striking out a career-high eight batters to earn the extra inning win. He is now 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in six innings pitched with 12 strikeouts.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
The theme for the season may be the youth movement with the number of freshman that will see extended time this season. Three more freshman saw significant time this weekend with Tanner Garner making two starts, Haydn McGeary getting a start and hitting his first collegiate home run, and Jahred Butler earning his first save .

SOUR NOTE
Colorado Mesa also had a dubious record broken in game one of the series The Mavericks struck out 15 times in game one of the series, something that hadn't been done in head coach Chris Hanks' tenure with the Mavericks. The previous record was set in 1991 in a game with BYU where the Mavericks struck out 14 times.

DOM
Senior third baseman Dominic DeMarco had six hits in the series with Montana State Billings but two of his hits tied the game up. The Silver City native hit a game-tying single in game one and a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth in game two.

THE STREAK OF 40
The Mavericks finished last season with a 43-16 overall record making it six straight seasons that Colorado Mesa has won 40 or more games. The last time the Mavericks didn't win 40 games was in 2012 when they went 39-16 and lost in the Central Regional in Mankato, Minn. The high mark during the streak came in the 2017 season where the team won 50 games and reached the NCAA Championship Final Four that included a win over No. 1 ranked Delta State. 

NATIONAL RANKINGS
Colorado Mesa is ranked nationally in the three major polls to begin the season as the favorites to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Mavericks are as high as No. 4 in the Perfect Game poll and moved up to No. 8 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association poll this week. The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll, voted on by coaches, has not updated since the preseason poll.

THE SKIPPER
Head coach Chris Hanks enters his 21st season guiding the Mavericks and has an impressive 838-345 record, the most wins from a coach in program history. He has led Colorado Mesa to three region championships, a feat that has earned him ABCA Region Coach of the year three times now. Last season, he earned his 10th RMAC Coach of the Year award while leading the Mavericks to the regular season and tournament titles.

UP NEXT
Colorado Mesa will be on the road next weekend for a min two-game series with Dixie State in St. George, Utah at Bruce Hurst Field. The Trailblazers will take on Montana State Billings over the weekend in a four-game series. Dixie State is coming off a bye weekend this past weekend.