SERIES HISTORY
This will be the first meeting between the two schools on the baseball diamond. Rollins will be making their first-ever trip to Grand Junction this year with the Mavericks set to make the return trip to Winter Park next February.
This will be the first meeting between a school from Florida and Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction since June 4, 1964 when Mesa Junior College faced Miami Dade North in the NJCAA World Series at Suplizio Field. That meeting occurred in the National Championship game that season.
Mesa Junior College played against a Florida school in Grand Junction six times as a part of the NJCAA World Series.
SCOUTING THE TARS
Rollins College relies heavily on their pitching and the Tars pitching staff is one of the best in the country. They rank No. 36 nationally in team ERA at 4.28 and they rely heavily on opposing hitters making weak contact as they are second nationally in double plays at 33.
Nick Berger is their top arm with a 1.09 ERA which is No. 4 nationally. Two weeks ago, he pitched eight and a third innings against then No. 2 Tampa and allowed just six hits.
Parker Smith is one of the long ball threats for the Tars. He has 15 home runs which ranks fourth nationally and has three multi-home run games.
CAREER MARKS
Senior Conrad Villafuerte is in his fifth year with the program and has reached some milestones during his final season in the Mavrron and Black.
The Fountain Valley, Calif. native has played in 144 games and made 107 starts in his career. He drove in his 100th run of his career and went over 100 runs scored a couple weeks back.
For his career, he is batting .364 with 34 doubles, three triples, 16 home runs. He is slugging .579 with an an-base percentage of .438.
COMING INTO HIS OWN
Junior righty Jacob Rhoades has pitched in and out of the one slot all season but this past weekend had his best outing of his career. Rhoades pitched a career-high seven innings and allowed two runs on three hits, walked two and struck out seven, tying a season and career-high, to earn his first win of the season.
During the outing, he didnt allow a hit until the fifth inning and faced the minimum into the seventh inning.
For the season, he is 1-2 with a 4.76 ERA. He has pitched 34.0 innings and allowed 18 runs on 33 hits, walked 10 and struck out 27 batters while opponents are batting just .254 off of him.
STANDINGS WATCH
After the weekend sweep of CSU Pueblo, the Mavericks continue to lead the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference by three games over MSU Denver with 12 games to play for both teams.
The Roadrunners have Colorado School of Mines, Colorado Christian and Adams State remaining on the schedule. Those three teams combine for an overall record of 37-61 which works out to a .378 winning percentage. Colorado Mesa has New Mexico Highlands, UCCS, and Adams State remaining with a combined record of 25-76 for a .248 winning percentage.
The Mavericks are idle in the conference this week while MSU Denver has their bye week the final week of the season.
The 6-7-8 positions are all seperated by one game with Colorado Christian, UCCS and Adams State all holding those positions currently.
ON THE HORIZON
Colorado Mesa will compete in their final three series of the season with all of them coming inside the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. First up, they will host UCCS in a four-game series at The Diamond beginning on April 21 at 6:05pm.
Following a road trip to New Mexico Highlands, they will host Adams State in a four-game series in Grand Junction. Thursday May 4 will be the annual Fireworks Game that will take place at Suplizio Field. It will be a "May the fourth be with you" Star Wars themed night with plenty of Star Wars themed activities.
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.
