SERIES HISTORY
Colorado Mesa and New Mexico Highlands have had their fair share of hard-nosed series over the years, but most of those occurred from the mid-to-late 2000s. One of those matchups happened in the NCAA Regional Tournament when Sergio Romo defeated the Cowboys at Suplizio Field in 2005.
The Mavericks own a mark of 86-39 since 2000 against Highlands including winners of the past nine straight. They swept the series in Las Vegas a year ago as they outscored the Cowboys 78-16.
The lone alarming number is that the Mavericks are just 32-20 in Las Vegas as opposed to 50-15 in Grand Junction.
SCOUTING THE COWBOYS
There is no hiding that New Mexico Highlands has struggled this year as they have a mark of 3-39 on the season. Despite the struggles, their season would be made if they could even take one game from Colorado Mesa.
Jadrian Martinez has the best numbers and have caused opponents problems. He is 1-8 with a 8.25 ERA in 55 and two-thirds innings. His lone of the year came just two weeks ago at UCCS.
Cobe Lehman leads the Pokes offensively with a .333 average 11 doubles and 10 home runs. He had back-to-back two homer games against Mines and MSu Denver earlier this month.
MAKING IT TO 30
With the four wins over UCCS, the Mavericks pushed their season total of wins over 30 to make it 19 straight years of 30 wins or more. The last time the Mavericks failed to reach 30 wins was the 2003 season where they finished the season 27-26.
With the potential of moving over 40 wins for the season on the horizon, that brings in a whole different set of streaks and milestones.
WEEKLY SWEEP
After the sweep of UCCS, the Mavericks swept the weekly confernece awards for the first time this season as Conrad Villafuerte and Liam Hohenstein were named RMAC Player and Pitcher of the Week.
Villafuerte earned RMAC Player of the Week for the second time this season. He batted .600 (9-for-15) with two doubles, two home runs, five runs scored and 12 runs driven in during the four-game sweep. In game two of the series, he was 2-for-3 with five runs driven in. In the bottom of the sixth of that game, he belted a first pitch, grand slam that broke the game wide open.
The Fountain Valley, Calif. native became the first player this season to earn their second RMAC Player of the Week honor.
True freshman Liam Hohenstein claimed his first RMAC Pitcher of the Week after pitching a complete game shutout against UCCS on Saturday. Hohenstein retired the first eight batters he faced and scattered four hits with the Mountain Lions hitting just .160 against him in the game. He fanned eight and didn't allow a runner to reach third base all day.
The Rock Canyon high school product claimed NCBWA South Central Region Pitcher of the Week honors on Wednesday morning to become the first Maverick to claim the honor this season.
STANDINGS WATCH
The task is simple for the Mavericks; win five of your last eight games and you are guaranteed the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title and hosting duties for the conference tournament. Anything less than that gets a little dicey so we wont go into that.
MSU Denver can finish no worse than third and will clinch at least second with two wins this weekend.
Regis is third then everything is super close with CSU Pueblo, Mines, UCCS, Colorado Christian and Adams State all still alive.
ON THE HORIZON
Colorado Mesa will host Adams State in the final series of the regular season. Next Thursday will be the annual Fireworks game with a 'May the Fourth be with you' themed night. That game is set to begin at 6:05pm from Suplizio Field. The rest of the series is scheduled to be at The Diamond at the Bus Bergman Sports Complex.
If the Mavericks take care of business the next two weeks, they will host the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament at The Diamond beginning on Wednesday May 10.
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 prior to the season.
TRIVIA / DID YOU KNOW....
Junior Harrison Rodgers became the 24th Colorado Mesa baseball player to reach 500 at bats in his career in the weekend sweep of UCCS. Ironically, he is also tied for 24th in all-time hits with former Maverick greats Nate Robertson and Curtis Englehart. With a good finish to the season, he should reach the top-15 in both whenever the season comes to a close.
