The No. 11 Colorado Mesa Baseball Team (31-9, 18-6 RMAC) will make their final regular season road trip this weekend when they travel to Lakewood to battle the Colorado Christian Cougars (13-28, 9-15 RMAC) in a four-game series at All-Star Park.
 
RMAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior catcher Spencer Bramwell was named the RMAC Player of the Week for the second time this season and makes it the ninth time a Maverick has earned the honor this year.
 
The San Clemente, Calif. native batted .550 (11-for-20) with two doubles, five home runs and 13 runs driven in. He hit three home runs in the series opening game on Friday where he finished the game with a career-high nine RBIs. It was the second time in his career that he hit three home runs in a game with his other feat coming during the 2020 season prior to the cancellations due to COVID.
 
Bramwell, the 2022 RMAC Academic Player of the Year, not only drove in 13 runs on the weekend but scored 10 runs of his own and is working on a seven-game hitting streak following the series.
 
SMART CATCHERS
This week the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference released their all-academic teams and academic player of the year. The Mavericks had 14 total student-athletes make the list that requires them to maintain a 3.3 GPA, have completed two semesters at their current school and using a season of eligibility.
 
Colorado Mesa catcher Spencer Bramwell was named the RMAC Academic Player of the Year after maintaining a 3.606 GPA and is earning his degree in Health and Fitness Promotion. He is batting .372 with 12 doubles, 17 home runs and 47 runs driven in.
 
His softball 'sister' Ally Distler was named the Academic Player of the Year for softball. Distler is the Mavericks starting catcher on the softball team.
 
METRIC MADNESS
If you are a fan of baseball, you know that there are hundreds of different kinds of metrics that are used to determine production by individuals and by the team. None of those may be more important than run differential which tells us are you outscoring your opponents this season and at what margin.
 
Colorado Mesa is +217 in run differential this season which is an astounding number compared to some of the other teams in the conference and nationally. The RMAC's second-place team, MSU Denver, is +143 with third-place CSU Pueblo just +18.
 
Looking at the national picture from a couple of the top teams. Defending national champion Wingate is among the top two teams this season, they are at a +224 and have already played 48 games this season. Perennial powerhouse Tampa is at a +141 with Central Missouri at a +207.
 
RECORD WATCH UPDATE
The past few weeks we have featured a look at where several Mavericks stand in career records. This past weekend's offensive onslaught has moved several players skyrocketing up the lists and, in some cases, breaking records. Look at how the charts stand now and a huge congrats to those that have ascended to the top.
 
Career At Bats

1. Jordan Stubbings (2018-current) – 722
2. Caleb Farmer (2018-current) – 722
3. Zach McLeod (2015-18) – 710
4. Landon Wareham (2000-03) – 708
5. Justin Little (2006-09) – 702

Career Runs

1. Caleb Farmer (2018-current) – 234 RMAC Record
2. Justin Little (2006-09) – 229

Career Hits

1. Justin Little (2006-09) – 271
2. Caleb Farmer (2018-current) – 266
3. Jordan Stubbings (2018-current) – 258
4. Matt Bodenchuk (2005-09) – 254
5. Andrew Martinez (2005-09) – 249

Career Doubles

1. Matt Bodenchuk (2005-09) – 65
2. Caleb Farmer (2018-current) – 62
3. Haydn McGeary (2019-current) – 60 

Career RBIs

1. Matt Bodenchuk (2005-09) – 218 RMAC Record
2. Haydn McGeary (2019-current) – 213
3. Jordan Stubbings (2018-current) - 208

WHERE WE STAND
The Mavericks head into this weekend with a two-game lead in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings over MSU Denver. While unlikely, there is an outside chance the Mavericks could clinch the conference regular season crown this weekend in Lakewood.
 
If the Mavericks win all four games this weekend, MSU Denver would need to lose three games this weekend to Regis. Regis will have been eliminated with the Mavericks sweep and the Roadrunners could not catch the Mavericks win total.
 
CSU Pueblo is the lone team that still has a shot to claim the top spot as they are just three games out. The Mavericks can eliminate them by winning all four games this weekend.
 
The first set of NCAA Regional Rankings were released with Colorado Mesa nabbing the top spot with a region best 31-9 overall record. The NCAA regional rankings determine the field for the NCAA Tournament which begins in late May. Those rankings factor in several metrics including strength of schedule, wins against teams above .500, and RPI.
 
Angelo State was second followed by West Texas A&M, Lubbock Christian, Texas A&M-Kingsville, and MSU Denver. UT Tyler was seventh and CSU Pueblo was eighth as the next two out.
 
One other team to pay attention to in the Regional Rankings is Azusa Pacific. The Cougars debuted at No. 2 in the West Region Rankings. Colorado Mesa swept Azusa Pacific on the road to open the season.
 
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
Colorado Christian is hanging onto hopes of making the RMAC Tournament as they sit in the No. 7 position in the conference. They will likely need to take at least two games from Colorado Mesa to give themselves a fighting chance in the last week of the season when they take on MSU Denver.
 
This weekend will feature some brotherly love as Maverick Wacy Crenshaw will be facing off with his brother Wyatt, who leads the Cougars at the plate. Wyatt is batting .405 with 17 doubles, seven triples, and 12 home runs for the Cougars. He had a season best two triples, two home runs, five runs driven in and four runs scored against New Mexico Highlands on March 4.
 
On the mound, Tyler Fischer may not have the best ERA at 8.74 but he may be the most dangerous. He has 57 strikeouts in 45 and a third innings pitched for the Cougars. Against Montana State Billings, he pitched seven innings and allowed three runs on six hits, walked two and struck out a season-high 12.
 
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 975-376 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
Colorado Mesa will return home for the final regular season home games as they take on rival CSU Pueblo in a four-game series at the Bergman Sports Complex. Thursday evening will be the ribbon cutting on the stadium with Friday's doubleheader to feature the annual fireworks game. Both those games will feature special guests throwing out the first pitch.