The No. 2 Colorado Mesa baseball team will head back out on the road for a showdown with No. 14 UCCS this weekend in Colorado Springs. The Mavericks are fresh off their weekend sweep of Colorado School of Mines while the Mountain Lions took three of four from New Mexico Highlands.
 
RMAC SWEEP
The Mavericks completed the sweep of Colorado School of Mines this past weekend at Suplizio Field by outscoring the Orediggers 65-7 in the series. Colorado Mesa batted .432 with 16 doubles and 14 home runs, slugging .819 in the series.
 
On the mound, the Mavericks pitched 32 innings and struck out 49 Orediggers in the four games (12.25 Ks/gm). They had a 1.12 team ERA and allowed Mines to hit just .165 in the series.
 
RMAC SWEEP 2.0
Colorado Mesa swept the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference awards this week as outfielder Matthew Turner and righty Andrew Morris claimed Player and Pitcher of the Week honors respectively.
 
Turner, a junior, batted .500 (7-for-14) with a double, four home runs, eight RBIs and nine runs scored in the weekend sweep of Colorado School of Mines. In game one of the series, he hit two home runs in a 9-1 win and then backed that up in game four with another two home runs in a 25-0 win over the Orediggers.
 
Morris was near lights out in his start during the opening game of the series. The COVID sophomore allowed one run on three hits, walked two and struck out 13 in seven innings of work in the 9-1 win over Colorado School of Mines. He allowed just one extra base hit and allowed the Orediggers to bat just .125 in the game.
 
The Boulder, Colo. native picked up NCBWA South Central Region Pitcher of the Week yesterday.
 
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Colorado Mesa is still the top scoring team in the country averaging over 16 runs per game in the early season. They are tied with West Chester as the top team in batting average as both are hitting at a .425 clip.
 
They are third nationally in slugging percentage (.786), home runs per game (3.30), and they are fourth in double per game (3.90).
 
FIRST TIME'S A CHARM
COVID freshman Kannon Handy made his first collegiate start of his career on Sunday and had an outstanding performance. The Herriman, Utah native allowed just one hit and walked one while striking out 11 in five innings during his first start.
 
Handy combined with Jared Ure and Frankie Fitzgerald to face just three batters over the minimum in the 25-0 win over the Orediggers in Sunday's series finale.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
Colorado Mesa remained at No. 2 in both the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper coach's poll and the Perfect Game Div. II poll. The top two teams in both polls have remained the same since the beginning of the season back in February.
 
The National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association poll has altered slightly through the weeks. Colorado Mesa is at No. 5 this week and has fluctuated between No. 4 and No. 5 most of the year. Angelo State has been in the top spot for most of the season.
 
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN LIONS
UCCS is off to one of their best starts in their young history as a program. They enter the weekend 7-1 and ranked No. 14 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll. They opened their season with a four-game sweep of Montana State Billings and followed by taking three of four games to New Mexico Highlands.
 
Kiichi Sato is the Mountain Lions most dangerous hitter as he is batting .500 (14-for-28) with five home runs in eight games. He has two two home run games and has at least one hit in every game this season.
 
Redshirt senior Daniel Silva leads the Mountain Lions on the mound as he has gone at least seven innings in both of his starts this season. He has 15 strikeouts in 15.1 innings pitched this season and has only walked one.
 
SERIES HISTORY WITH UCCS:
Colorado Mesa owns a 10-4 all-time record against the Mountain Lions in their history with all four of the Mavericks losses occurring in Colorado Springs. The two teams last met in the RMAC Tournament in Grand Junction on May 9, 2019 with the Mavericks coming out on top 8-4.
 
FUN FACT:
UCCS has a couple of recognizable athletes listed among their notable students, alumni and staff. Currently, the most recognizable name is San Antonio Spurs basketball player Derrick White that played for the Mountain Lions from 2012-15 before transferring to Colorado.
 
The other is gold medal short track speed skater and the most decorated American Winter Olympian Apollo Ohno.
 
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 906-362 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.
 
900-WIN CLUB
On February 26, 2021, head baseball coach Chris Hanks won his 900^th game as the skipper of the Colorado Mesa Mavericks. He is the tenth NCAA Division II coach to reach the milestone and his .713 winning is second among those with 900 wins only trailing Mike Kennison of Delta State who has a .758 winning percentage.
 
Coach Hanks is the all-time winningest baseball coach in program history and the all-time winningest baseball coach in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference history.
 
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 return home for a pod weekend at Suplizio Field. They will play host to both Adams State and Regis with three days of doubleheaders between the three schools beginning on Friday March 26.