GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Colorado Mesa University senior pitcher JR McDermott struck out a season-high 12 batters in eight shutout innings while five different Mavericks recorded two hits apiece to win a 7-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference clash of top-10 nationally ranked teams on Friday night at Suplizio Field.
 
The Mavericks, ranked fifth, banged out 12 hits in the series opener against the ninth-ranked Colorado School of Mines Orediggers and improved to 17-2 overall and to 5-0 in the RMAC. 
 
Mines fell to 13-3 overall and 4-1 in the RMAC.
 
The Mavericks scored runs in four different innings taking a quick 2-0 lead when Hunter Douglas reached on a lead-off error in the bottom of the first before Caleb Farmer hit a deep 2-run homer to the Lincoln Park Golf Course beyond the left field fence.
 
Meanwhile, McDermott struck out two Orediggers in the first and erased a second inning walk with a come-back double play in the second.  He then struck out the side in the third and tallied five consecutive strikeouts into the fourth after the Mavericks had extended their lead to 3-0 on a RBI single by Spencer Bramwell that plated Hunter Douglas in the bottom of the third.
 
The Orediggers then hit three consecutive singles to begin the fifth before McDermott got two more strikeouts, his eighth and ninth of the night, and a ground out to preserve the Mavs' advantage.
 
Fittingly, CMU took advantage in the bottom half of the inning as Jordan Stubbings and Dominic DeMarco each hit run-scoring doubles to extend the advantage to 5-0.
 
McDermott would again record a 1-6-3 double play to erase a lead-off single in the Mines half of the sixth inning before surrendering the final two of his six hits in the seventh as John Howard and Phil Van Zale both reached on hits after back-to-back towering fly balls were lost in the lights in shallow right field by CMU second baseman Chase Hamilton.  However, no damage would be done as McDermott recorded yet another strikeout.
 
The right-handed then recorded his final two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 eighth, fanning his brother Danny, a pinch-hitter.

Douglas then extended CMU's lead to 7-0 in the bottom half of the eighth with a 2-run bases-loaded single, part of a 3-hit inning.
 
The Orediggers then scored their only run on a lead-off homer in the top of the ninth by Derek Daly, his tenth of the season.  That came off reliever Ryan Overboe, who promptly retired the final three hitters, including Joe Popp on strikes to cap the win.
 
The teams will tangle in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader of 7-inning games, beginning at 1 p.m. and will then close out the series on Sunday at noon with a single 9-inning contest.