The No. 2 ranked Colorado Mesa Mavericks will host the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers for their Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference home opener this weekend at Suplizio Field. The series will begin on Friday at 3pm with a single nine-inning game with Saturday's doubleheader slated to begin at 1pm. The series finale is scheduled for 12pm on Sunday with a single nine-inning game.
 
STARTER STRIKEOUTS
The starting pitchers for the Mavericks have some unique numbers in the early season. All four starters have more strikeouts than innings pitched but three of the four also have more hits allowed than innings pitched (Ryan Day only one that does not).
 
COVID sophomore Andrew Morris leads the group with 16 strikeouts in just seven innings pitched while Ryan Day has the best overall numbers, sporting a 3.00 ERA in 12 innings pitched with 12 strikeouts.
 
MONSTER IN THE MIDDLE
COVID sophomore Haydn McGeary completed the trifecta this week as he was named RMAC Player of the Week, NCBWA South Central Region Player of the Week and NCBWA National Player of the Week after his performance against Adams State in a two-game series last weekend.
 
McGeary batted .700 (7-for-10) with five of his seven hits going for extra bases in the two-game series with Adams State. He had an OPS of 2.436 and slugged 1.556 with 16 RBIs including nine in the series finale on Sunday.
 
The Peoria, Ariz. native currently ranks third nationally in RBIs per game at 3.50 and fourth in hits per game at 2.67.
 
EARLY OFFENSE
Colorado Mesa is sporting some pretty gaudy numbers in the early portion of the season. The Mavericks rank No. 1 nationally in scoring, averaging 16.8 runs per game and is third in team batting average at .420.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper hasn't released their updated rankings yet so the Mavericks still sit at No. 2 in the nation behind incumbent national champion Tampa and just a slot ahead of Angelo State.
 
Colorado Mesa moved down a slot in the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association poll to No. 5 with Missouri Southern moving ahead to No. 4 after gaining a first-place vote in this week's poll. Angelo State is in the top spot with 13 first-place votes.
 
SCOUTING THE OREDIGGERS
Colorado School of Mines is coming off their opening weekend series at home where they were swept by MSU Denver in four games in Golden. The Orediggers were outscored 39-23 in the series but scored 12 runs in the series finale on Sunday.
 
Mines has had strong pitching over the years and this year is no different just a couple of different names. Ben Schoneman and Adam Houghtaling both have more strikeouts than innings pitched with Schoneman doing it from the rotation and Houghtaling from the bullpen.
 
Caden Bonds leads the Oredigger attack as he hit .462 during the series with MSU Denver.
 
SERIES HISTORY WITH COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES:
Over the years, Colorado Mesa has owned a 102-18 mark against the Orediggers but Mines has closed the gap over the last 10 seasons with 10 of their 18 wins coming since 2013. The Mavericks have won 13 straight against Mines dating back to 2018 when Mines won three of four in the regular season series.
 
The Orediggers and Mavericks have formed a little bit of a rivalry over the years as the two have squared off in the postseason over the years with the Mavericks winning 10 straight against the Orediggers in the postseason including three times in 2019.
 
FUN FACT:
Despite not having any notable baseball alumni listed on their Wikipedia page, Mines does have four prominent athletes listed in 2014 MLS Rookie of the Year Tesho Akindele of FC Dallas, UFC heavyweight champion Shane Carwin, PGA pro Marty Jertson, and former Jacksonville Jaguar Marc Schiechl.
 
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Over the past 15 years, Colorado Mesa has been nearly unstoppable at home in Suplizio Field. They have won over 81 percent of their games (398-90) and in that time, they have not been shutout, a span of 492 games.
 
30 SKIPPER
Colorado Mesa head coach Chris Hanks is in the dugout for his 23^rd season as the skipper of the Mavericks. Hanks has an 898-361 record as the head coach and is the all-time wins leader in Colorado Mesa history as well as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
He has led the Mavericks to 17 NCAA Regional Tournaments, four NCAA National Championship Tournament appearances and twice a National Runner-up. He has won the RMAC regular season championship 15 times and nine RMAC Tournament Championships.
 
PRESEASON RMAC POLL
Colorado Mesa was picked to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after receiving all eight possible first-place votes. The Mavericks are seeking their ninth straight regular season title and their seventh straight RMAC Tournament Championship later this season.
 
Colorado School of Mines was picked to finish second followed by UCCS, MSU Denver and CSU Pueblo.
 
The Mavericks were 14-4 when the season was halted last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
WINNINGEST TEAM OF THE DECADE
The Mavericks will have their names etched in the record book after boasting 440 wins from 2010-2019 and will go down as the Winningest Team of the Decade. The Mavs' .753 winning percentage was fifth best during the time frame.
 
During the decade, they were one of just two schools to qualify for the NCAA Division II tournament all ten years, making three appearances in the Championships. That included a pair of runner-up finishes in 2014 and 2019. The Mavericks had a 29-22 record in the NCAA Tournament during the decade.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Mavericks will be back on the road next weekend for a four-game series with upstart UCCS in Colorado Springs. The Mountain Lions had a bye in the first week of the conference season and swept MSU Billings in four games in the Springs. They will play New Mexico Highlands this weekend in Las Vegas.