The No. 15 Colorado Mesa baseball team returns home for a four-game series with the Montana State Billings Yellow Jackets at The Diamond at the Bus Bergman Sports Complex. The series begins Thursday with a single nine-inning game beginning at 2:30pm.
 
PROVIDING THE PUNCH
Sophomore backstop Max Valdez is proving he belongs in the middle of the Mavericks order this year after spending time in and out of last season's potent lineup. He batted .200 with two doubles and two runs driven in in 15 at-bats.
 
This season, the Regis Jesuit product is batting .345 with a team-high three home runs and seven runs scored. He has a hit in six of the eight games he has played in including a three-hit effort in the series opener at Chico State.
 
THE BEST NAME IN BASEBALL
The walks are down, and the strikeouts are up for the Mavericks staff ace Kannon Handy. The lefthander has a 6.75 ERA but the numbers are not as bad as the ERA as he has allowed four walks and struck out 23 in 13.1 innings pitched.
 
In his last start, he allowed one run on four hits, walked two and struck out 13 to earn his first win of the season in a win over Northwest Nazarene on the road.
 
BANO AT THE BACK
Redshirt senior Anthony Durbano has firmed up the backend of the Mavericks bullpen, something that was seen as a weakness with last season's team. The Riverdale, Utah native pitched great down the stretch of the 2021 season before missing the entire 2022 season with an injury.
 
He has bounced back quite nicely and has started this season with a bang. Durbano has a 0.00 ERA in 5.1 innings with one hit, walked four and struck out seven with a 0.94 WHIP. He has recorded two saves with one against Azusa Pacific and the other against Chico State.
 
HERE IS A START
True freshman Liam Hohenstein is scheduled to get his opportunity to start on the mound this weekend after a fantastic start to his first collegiate season. In his two appearances, the Rock Canyon High School product has allowed just one walk in four innings or 12 outs. Nine of those 12 outs have been recorded via the strikeout and the walk has been his lone base runner allowed.
 
AVOID THE BIG ONE
In the Mavericks five losses during the seven-game road trip, they were suspectable to the big inning. No loss was greater than five runs and they gave up a big inning in each of those with the run totals in one inning include 5, 4, 6, 5, and 4.
 
Avoid the big inning, celebrate a Maverick victory.
 
ABOUT MONTANA STATE BILLINGS
The Yellow Jackets come into the weekend with a 5-5 record as they have made their way across the West and into Colorado. They opened the season with two wins against Cal State L.A. before falling in three of four games to Cal State San Marcos. They split their weekend in Pueblo winning twice against the ThunderWolves and falling to both CSU Pueblo and West Texas A&M in their other matchups.
 
On the mound, Cy Miller has the club's best numbers with a 2-0 record and a 1.64 ERA. He has 13 strikeouts in 11 innings pitched and has allowed just eight hits in that time frame. He hasn't pitched more than five innings in any appearance but hasn't struck out fewer than four either.
 
Sophomore Kaden Kirshenbaum has provided the Jackets some pop in the lineup. The Federal Way, Wash. native is hitting .369 with two doubles and three home runs with a .641 slugging percentage. In his final two games in Pueblo, he was 5-for-10 with a home run and four runs driven in.
 
PRO MAVS
The Mavericks had three players drafted last season with Andrew Morris, Haydn McGeary and Spencer Bramwell all getting selected in the MLB Amateur Draft. Since 2003, Colorado Mesa leads all Colorado state colleges with 18 MLB Draft picks in that time.
 

1. Colorado Mesa 18
2. Air Force 10
3. Lamar CC 9
4. Regis 8
5. Northern Colorado 7
6. CSU Pueblo 5
7. MSU Denver 5
8. Trinidad State 4
9. Northeastern JC 4
10. Mines 3

 
Andrew Morris was the highest selection during that time as he went in the fourth round to the Minnesota Twins this past June while Bligh Madris was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the ninth round in 2017 as the only top ten round selections. Madris was recently dealt to the Houston Astros after making his MLB debut last June.
 
Probably the most famous Maverick that is included in the list is Sergio Romo who was selected in the 28^th round of the 2005 draft by the San Francisco Giants. Romo went on to win three World Series rings with the Giants.
 
NOT ONLY TEAM OF THE DECADE
The Mavericks were deemed the team of the decade after finishing the decade with the best record in all of NCAA Division II Baseball. But they have also been the best in DII over the last five years. Colorado Mesa has a .792 winning percentage (243-64) in the last five seasons which tops 2022 National Champion North Greenville (.784), South Central Region rival Angelo State (.773), Central Missouri (.763) and Tampa (.762).
 
Since 2017:
Colorado Mesa 243-64 (.792)
North Greenville 236-64-1 (.784)
Angelo State 235-69 (.773)
Central Missouri 229-71 (.763)
Tampa 208-65 (.762)
Minnesota State 202-65 (.757)
Illinois-Springfield 213-68-1 (.755)
Southern New Hampshire 210-68 (.755)
Augustana 224-77-1 (.742)
Azusa Pacific 204-77 (.726)
 
RMAC DOMINATION
Colorado Mesa has won ten straight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles and are the conference coach's selection to win it for an 11^th season. Since 2009, Colorado Mesa has won nearly 81 percent of their games against RMAC competition as they have a 389-92 record in that span.
 
ON DECK
The Mavericks will continue their home stand next week as they open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play with a four-game series with MSU Denver at The Diamond. The four-game series features the two teams that were picked to finish in the first and second position in the conference preseason poll.