Top-ranked Colorado Mesa opens up a four-game home stand with New Mexico Highlands this weekend at Suplizio Field. The two teams will open the series on Friday with a nine-inning game at 6:05pm followed by a pair of seven-inning games as a part of a doubleheader on Saturday at 1pm. The series will wrap-up on Sunday with a single nine-inning game that is scheduled to begin at 12pm.
 
THIRD TIME'S A CHARM
Last week, right-handed starter Andrew Morris was named the RMAC Pitcher of the Week for the third time this season. All three times those followed with the NCBWA South Central Region Pitcher of the Week award as well.
 
Morris earned his latest honor after carrying a no-hitter into the eighth inning against No. 19 MSU Denver. The young ace surrendered an infield single in the eighth inning to break up the no-no and he left to a standing ovation from the crowd of roughly 2,200 people. His final line was seven innings pitched allowing one hit, walked four and struck out a career-high 15 batters.
 
For the season, Morris is 5-0 with a 2.49 ERA in 43.1 innings pitched. He has allowed opponents to bat just .209 off of him and has a RMAC leading 74 strikeouts. He is among the national leaders in total strikeouts (No. 13) and strikeouts per nine innings (No. 8) at 15.37.
 
OUT OF THE PEN
The duo of Anthony Durbano and Jared Ure coming out of the bullpen has proved to be a winning combination for the Mavericks. Durbano has assumed the closing duties for Colorado Mesa as the Mavericks had to put Frankie Fitzgerald on the shelf for an extended period of time. The COVID junior is 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA in 14 innings pitched with 17 strikeouts and two saves now.
 
In the second game of the doubleheader with Regis, the righty entered the game with the bases loaded and nobody out in a 6-3 game in the seventh and final inning. Durbano induced a catcher pop-up, a strikeout and a fly out to left field to end the game and earn his second save of the season.
 
Ure has shown signs of dominance out of the pen as he has a 3.71 ERA in in 17 innings pitched this season. He has 22 strikeouts on the year and opponents are batting just .261 off of him.
 
What's unique about both pitchers is that they both have nine appearances on the season and have made starts on the mound also.
 
WE'RE GOING STREAKING
The Mavericks have been on a season of streaks so far and here a couple of the current superlatives:
 
*Outfielder Tanner Garner was on a 16-game hitting streak that dates back to the opening game of the Colorado School of Mines series on March 12. The streak came to an end in the second game of the doubleheader against Regis on Sunday.
 
*Colorado Mesa is on their second winning streak of ten games or more this season as they have now won 12 straight dating back to the loss against UCCS on Sunday March 21, a 6-5 setback.
 
STUBBY
Colorado Mesa junior first baseman Jordan Stubbings was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Week prior to the Regis series and following the series sweep of #19 MSU Denver last weekend.
 
Stubbings led the Mavericks in batting during their four-game sweep of #19 MSU Denver. He batted .529 (9-for-17) with a double, two home runs, six RBIs, and nine runs scored in the series. He was 3-for-3 with three runs scored, three RBIs, and a home run in the win in game two. Including the two games with Regis, Stubbings raised his batting average from .388 to .412 during the series and had an OPS of 1.497 in that stretch.
 
The Parker, Colo. native was on a seven-game, multi-hit streak dating back to the two games with Adams State that ended in game two of the Regis doubleheader.
 
SUMMER IS COMING
This week it was announced that four players have signed to play with the newly revamped Appalachian League that will be run by Major League Baseball and USA Baseball in an effort to identify players for USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team and Draft-eligible student-athletes.
 
A complete list of the Mavericks summer destinations will be released at the conclusion of the season.
 
STILL ON TOP
The Mavericks remain in the top spot in the three major national polls, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper (CBN), Perfect Game and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).
 
For the third straight week, Colorado Mesa has been the top team in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll which is voted on by a panel of Division II coaches. They picked up 240 points in the poll and are ahead of Tampa (232), Central Missouri (224) and West Texas A&M (224).
 
The Mavericks are in the top spot for the second straight week, slotting in just ahead of Central Missouri, West Texas A&M, Tampa, and Angelo State. RMAC foe MSU Denver is up a spot to No. 20 in the poll.
 
Colorado Mesa is the No. 1 team in the country in the NCBWA poll for the third straight week as they garnered 16 of the 19 available first-place votes. Lee, from the South Region, was second and picked up two first-place votes while Central Missouri was third followed by Mount Olive.
 
SCOUTING THE COWBOYS
New Mexico Highlands opened the year at the Courtyard by Marriott Leadoff Weekend in Grand Junction where they defeated Montana State Billings in both games and dropped two matchups to now No. 23 Northwest Nazarene. After opening conference play with a series split with Colorado Christian, they fell in three of four games to UCCS, CSU Pueblo and the RMAC pod while getting swept by MSU Denver.
 
Gaylan Young leads the offense with a .337 batting average. He has seven doubles and leads the team with seven home runs while sporting a 1.058 OPS. Young had a two home run game in the RMAC pod against UCCS on March 28.
 
Jadrian Martinez leads the team in strikeouts and has been pitching some of the Friday games for the Cowboys. He is 1-3 with a 7.17 ERA in 37.2 innings pitched with 26 strikeouts.
 
SERIES HISTORY WITH NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS:
Colorado Mesa is now 78-39 all-time and is coming off a 3-1 series win against the Cowboys in 2019 in Grand Junction. The Mavericks are 46-15 at home since 2000 and have averaged 8.46 runs per contest.
 
FUN FACT:
New Mexico Highlands has had a couple of alums that were in the wrestling and mixed martial arts field. The Dean of Mean Keith Jardine is a former MMA fighter for the UFC, Strikeforce and King of the Cage while the late great Eddie Guerrero of WWE fame and glory are both listed as alums of New Mexico Highlands.
 
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
The Mavericks have an impressive mark at home winning over 81 percent of their games in Suplizio Field since 2005. They also have not been shutout at home in 511 consecutive games dating back to February 14, 2004 in a 3-0 loss to Western Oregon in which the Mavericks were no-hit by the Wolves.
 
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
Colorado Mesa will play a doubleheader against Regis on Tuesday April 27 at 12pm with a nine-inning game followed by a seven-inning game. This doubleheader completes the four-game series with the Rangers this year which was originally schedule this past weekend.