MEET THE NEW BACKSTOP
Sophomore Declan Wiesner has staked claim to be the everyday backstop after back-to-back successful weekends at the plate and defensively.
Wiesner batted .667 against No. 27 MSU Denver in the series win over the Roadrunners. He was 10-for-15 with two doubles and two home runs with a 1.488 OPS on the weekend. For the season, Wiesner is batting .447 with four doubles, two home runs and 12 runs driven in.
The Valor Christian High School product is no stranger to Grand Junction as he played for Walters State Community College and made two trips to the NJCAA World Series, played at Suplizio Field, with the Senators.
THE STEADY STARTER
Sophomore Cole Seward has been in the Maverick pitching rotation all season and may have had the most consistent starts this season for the staff.
Last weekend, Seward earned the win in the final game of the series as he allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits, walked two and struck out four. The highly offensive Roadrunners batted just .222 against him in the game and retired 10 batters in a row after they scored three in the first.
On the season, he is 4-1 with a 5.33 ERA.
CALLING IT A CAREER
Former Colorado Mesa and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference great Sergio Romo will call it a career after signing a minor league contract with the team that drafted him, the San Francisco Giants, on Thursday. Romo will pitch twice in spring training then his final game will be in the Bay Bridge Exhibition game against the Oakland A's on March 27 at Oracle Park.
Romo was named the RMAC Pitcher of the Century and continues to hold or tie for the single season mark in Maverick history in wins (14), strikeouts (129), and innings pitched (124.1). During his lone season with the Mavericks in 2005, the Brawley, Calif. native went 14-1 with a 2.46 ERA with 129 strikeouts in 124 and a third innings pitched.
THE NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The Mavericks finished the difficult non-conference slate with a 9-6 record with eight of those games at home and seven of those games on the road.
Both Azusa Pacific and Chico State continue to be above .500 as four of Azusa Pacific's eight losses coming to the Mavericks. Cal State Chico has played a difficult schedule and is 7-6 on the season. Northwest Nazarene and MSU Billings are both below .500 and are coming off a series aganst each other with the Nighthawks owning a 3-1 series win.
They still have one more three game non-conference series at home during their conference bye week. They will play No. 9 Rollins in Grand Junction beginning on April 14. The Tars are currently 15-6 on the season.
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 28th 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 11th 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.
