WEEKEND RECAP
Colorado Mesa won their third South Central Region title by winning a pair of one-run games over Angelo State at Foster Field in San Angelo, Texas. Two of the top offensive teams in Division II baseball finished the weekend hitting .269 and .225. The Mavericks .269 average was helped out by Dominic Demarco who batted .364 with a double and a home run with four runs driven in. The pitching stafff limited the Rams to just 23 hits in the three games and limited the top-hitting team in the nation to a .225 average and just five extra base hits.

BACK TO CARY
The Mavericks are headed to their fourth NCAA National Championship Tournament and their third appearance in Cary. The home of USA Baseball has been kind to Colorado Mesa in the past as they are 4-4 all-time in North Carolina with a runner-up finish in the 2014 tournament. The Mavericks fell in the National Championship game 3-2 to Southern Indiana in 12 innings.

CARR SHOPPING
Sophomore Johnny Carr had just three hits in the three-game Super Regional but delivered one of the biggest hits in his career in the opener. All of Carr's hits came in the opener including one in the bottom of the 11th inning that gave the Mavericks the 1-0, extra inning victory in game one of the tightly contested series.

TOURNAMENT MVP
Colorado Mesa may have one of the best 9-hole hitters in America with center fielder Josh Shapiro. The senior NCAA SAAC chair is hitting .476 with two doubles, a home run and nine runs scored in six NCAA Tournament games. The Salt Lake City native is hitting .338 on the season from that slot and is currently riding an eight-game hitting streak in the National Championship tournament.

HELLS BELLS
What more is there to say about Will Dixon this season. He is now the NCAA leader in saves with 15 and is now just one save short of Keith Nelson's school record of 16 set during the 2007 season. Dixon ended the Super Regionals with a win and a save in five and two-thirds innings pitched. 

YOUTH MOVEMENT
Andrew Morris is back in the spotlight this week after his Super Region game one performance. Morris, the 17-year-old freshman, pitched seven scoreless innings in the Super Region opener and didnt allow a hit until the sixth inning. He allowed just two hits, walked one and struck out three with Angelo State hitting just .087 in the game.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT
Top-seeded Colorado Mesa will take on eighth-seeded NYIT in the opening round of the NCAA Division II National Championships on Saturday at 5pm MT from the USA Baseball Training Facility in Cary, N.C. NYIT won the East Super Region Tournament in two games over Southern New Hampshire after entering the region seeded fifth in their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 36 years.

The Bears are coached by former MLB veteran Frank Catalanotto who spent 14 seasons in the big leagues with the Tigers, Rangers, Blue Jays, Mets and Brewers. Coach Catalanotto is just one reason NYIT may be the story heading into the tournament. The Bears won just 13 games a year ago after returning to Division II from Division I.

EJ Cumbo leads NYIT with a .453 average with 13 doubles and seven home runs and has stolen 22 bases this year. Cumbo had back-to-back four hit games to open the East Regional. On the mound, the Bears are led by DJ Masuck who is 12-1 with a 2.49 ERA. Masuck has 79 strikeouts on the year and allows opponents to hit just .216 off of him.

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. With their win over Dixie State on Friday evening, the Mavericks made it seven straight seasons of 40 wins. 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. 

50-WIN SEASON
For the second time in program history, Colorado Mesa has won 50 games in a season and has a chance to add to that win total in the NCAA National Championships. The last time the Mavericks won 50 games in a season was in 2017 where they reched the final four of the National Championships in Grand Prairie, Texas. The 50th win of the season came in a win over No. 1 Delta State. 

NATIONAL RANKINGS
Colorado Mesa remained in the No. 1 slot in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper rankings and at No. 2 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association rankings after they werent updated following the regional rounds. The only rankings that were updated came from Perfect Game who had the Mavericks slotted at No. 2 behind North Greenville. North Greenville failed to make the trip to Cary as they were defeated by Catawba in the Southeast Super Regional.

THE SKIPPER
Head coach Chris Hanks enters his 21st season guiding the Mavericks and has an impressive 881-354 record, the most wins from a coach in program history. The Carbondale, Colo. native won his 850th game as the Maverick skipper on March 16, 2019 in an 11-0 win over No. 9 Colorado School of Mines. He has led Colorado Mesa to three region championships, a feat that has earned him ABCA Region Coach of the year three times now. This season he was named the RMAC Coach of the Year for the 11th time in his tenure.