The No. 9 Colorado Mesa baseball team (18-6, 9-3 RMAC) are coming off the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference bye week and will be on the road for a conference pod in Alamosa. The Mavericks will take on the host Adams State Grizzlies (4-18, 2-10 RMAC) and the Regis Rangers (16-13-1, 10-6 RMAC) in two games against each opponent. Despite the games occurring against conference opponents, they will not count in the standings.
 
RMAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
The Mavericks have been racking up the weekly accolades over the first half of the season. They have either claimed the player or pitcher of the week honors in six straight weeks prior to the bye week.
 
Three different players have accounted for four of the Player of the Week honors while two players have earned the pitcher of the week honors.
 
PROWESS AT THE PLATE
The Mavericks have gone back to their ways of out slugging opponents in their search of another conference title. They enter the weekend as the No. 1 team in the country in batting average at .365 as a team. Not only are they the tops in the country in batting average but also slugging percentage at .639.
 
In year's past, those high marks have come from maybe one or two players, but this year's team is getting contributions from several players. Four players have five or more home runs and eight have five or more doubles.
 
Caleb Farmer and Haydn McGeary are two of those players leading the charge and are among the nation's best in several categories. McGeary leads the country in slugging percentage at 1.037 and is third in batting average at an even .500 while Farmer is seventh in total home runs at 12 and sixth in slugging percentage at .926.
 
NEWCOMER TO WATCH
Sophomore Cooper Vasquez combined with fellow newcomer David Reckers and Cade Nicol on a two-hit shutout in the opening game of the series with UCCS. Vasquez, a transfer from Ohlone College in California, pitched six shutout innings of relief after Reckers successfully 'opened' the game. Vasquez allowed just two hits and struck out six in just 64 pitches to earn his second win as a Maverick.
 
Vasquez has pitched 12 innings and allowed just six hits, walked six and struck out 12 on the season.
 
WHERE WE STAND
As we near the halfway point of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference portion of the schedule, Colorado Mesa sits in first place with a two-game lead over second place CSU Pueblo. MSU Denver and Regis are tied for third with matching 10-6 records.
 
Looking at the regional picture, in the NCBWA regional poll conducted by baseball media contacts in the region, West Texas A&M came in first this past week at 25-5 while Colorado Mesa was second at 18-6 followed by Angelo State at 23-7. This poll is unofficial as the only poll that matters is the NCAA Regional Poll which will start to be released at the end of the month of April.
 
The top six teams in the region will move onto the NCAA Tournament and be split into two three-team regional sites with the winners squaring off in the NCAA Super Regional, best two-out-of-three for a trip to the NCAA National Championship Tournament in Cary, N.C.
 
SCOUTING THE POD
Colorado Mesa is set to take on the host Adams State and Regis in this weekend's RMAC pod. The Mavericks swept the Grizzlies in the RMAC series earlier this March in the four-game series. Despite the sweep Adams likely enters the weekend the hottest among the three teams as they are coming off a split of CSU Pueblo last weekend.
 
The Grizzlies had this week's RMAC Player of the Week in Cedrick Reynaud who hit .667 in the series split with the ThunderWolves. He went 8-for-12 with 10 runs scored, three home runs and a triple. He is leading the team with a .361 batting average with 26 hits.
 
Regis comes into the weekend with potentially the most to gain in the regional landscape. The Rangers will get two games with the Mavericks on neutral soil and two games with Adams State on the road with the ability to get seven games above .500 on the year.
 
Pitcher Justin Kleinsorge leads the Ranger arms with a 4.58 ERA and has made a start each weekend of the year. He has 59 strikeouts in 39 and a third innings pitched this season. He has reached seven strikeouts in every start he has made including a season-high 10 strikeouts against Fort Hays State on February 20.
 
THE WINNING WAY
As it was announced by the NCAA last year that Colorado Mesa was the winningest baseball team of the past decade. To shorten the window even more, they have the highest winning percentage since 2017 at .806. They have a higher winning percentage then some of the top programs in Division II baseball including Angelo State (.770), North Greenville (.768), Tampa (.759), and Central Missouri (.747).
 
Colorado Mesa is in search of their 41^st straight winning season.
 
THE SKIPPER
The Mavericks are headed up by living legend Chris Hanks who is the Mavericks all-time leader in wins with an overall record of 962-373 and has won nearly 72 percent of the games he has coached in. He is entering his 24^th season as the head coach and has guided the Mavericks to 16 RMAC Championships, 17 NCAA Tournament appearances and four trips to the NCAA Division II National Tournament.
 
During his tenure, he has been named the RMAC Coach of the Year 12 times, the ABCA Regional Coach of the Year four times and was twice named the NCBWA National Coach of the Year.
 
Coach Hanks is always quick to point to his coaching staff when discussing his personal successes as the staff has been intact for the past 12 seasons with others having been on staff just as long and longer than his entire coaching tenure.
 
PRESEASON POLLS
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference preseason poll was released earlier this year and once again the Mavericks were picked to win the regular season title unanimously. They received all eight first-place votes possible and will be in search of their 25^th overall and 10^th straight regular season titles. UCCS was picked second followed by MSU Denver, and Regis to round out the top four.
 
Colorado Mesa has gained national attention by being picked No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball Preseason National Poll despite the Mavericks not making it to Cary last season. Tampa was the preseason pick to make it back to the National Championship Tournament and win it.
 
In the NCBWA Preseason National Poll, the Mavericks were picked No. 4 behind Tampa, defending national champion Wingate and Central Missouri.
 
ON DECK
The Mavericks will head back out on the road for a key four-game series with the MSU Denver Roadrunners in Denver. The series is scheduled to begin on Friday April 8 at the Assembly Athletic Complex. The Roadrunners head into the pod weekend with a 19-11 record and 10-6 in the conference.