SERIES HISTORY
The Mavericks will open the season with a single nine-inning game in Lakeland, Fla. against the Florida Southern Moccasins. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools. 

They will continue their road trip in Florida with a three-game return series to Winter Park and a matchup with the Rollins Tars. The two teams met up last year in Grand Junction with Colorado Mesa coming away with a two games to one series win at The Diamond.

Rollins is tenatively set to return to Grand Junction for a series during the 2025 season.

SCOUTING THE MOCS AND TARS
Florida Southern was picked to finish third in the Sunshine State Conference behind both Tampa and Rollins. The Mocs opened the season with a 1-2 swing to Pensacola and No. 11 West Florida. 

The Mocs are coached by Lance Niekro who is the son of MLB All-Sar Joe Niekro and nephew to Hall of Famer Phil Niekro.

Rollins is coming a season where they played for the National Championship before falling to Angelo State. They are picked second in the SSC and opened the season with a loss to Alabama Huntsville before rebounding with a doubleheader sweep of nationally ranked Montevallo.

SENIOR LEADER
Senior outfielder Robert Sharrar is back in the lineup and you can expect to see him hitting leadoff once again for the Mavericks. The preseason NCBWA All-American is one of five starters that return for the positional lineup.

During his junior season, the Newbury Park, Calif. native batted .437 with 11 doubles, three triples, and 11 home runs. He stole 13 bases and finished the season with an OPS of 1.167.

He will likely start in centerfield for the Mavericks where he fielded .973 a season ago.

THE ROTATION
The Mavericks return two starters to the rotation in No. 1 and No. 2 starters along with an important piece in the bullpen. Senior Jacob Rhoades pitched in the No. 1 slot all year last season but will likely slide down into the No. 4 slot this season to provide some stability to the rotation. Rhoades went 6-3 as a junior with a 4.42 ERA in 73.1 innings pitched. 

No. 2 starter Liam Hohenstein returns to the rotation after a RMAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year season. He finished 9-1 with a 3.06 ERA in 64.2 innings pitched and 69 strikeouts. 

Senior Cade Nicol will be a key piece in the bullpen as he finished as one of the team leaders inn appearances with 15 last season. He had a 3.93 ERA in 34.1 innings with 35 strikeouts and opponents hit .277 off of him. 

HISTORY MADE
The Mavericks accomplished the unthinkable during the NCAA South Central Region #2 tournament last season. With Robert Sharrar's home run in the bottom of the fifth inning against St. Edward's, it gave the Mavericks 100 home runs and 100 stolen bases in a season for the first-time in program history. It is also believed to be the first time in NCAA Division II history that the feat occurred.

HEADING TO THE SUNSHINE STATE
No. 7 ranked Colorado Mesa is headed to the State of Florida for the first time since 2020 prior to the COVID-19 shutdown. In that trip, the Mavericks took two of the three games with No. 16 Nova Southeastern in Fort Lauderdale.

This year's trip will take them to Lakeland for a single-game and their first-ever meeting with Florida Southern before a three-game series with Rollins College in Winter Park. 

The Mavericks are 5-3 all-time against teams from Florida.

MAVERICKS IN MILB
The Colorado Mesa baseball team currently has eight players competing at some level of professional baseball. All eight finished in the minors but two of them saw action in Major League Baseball during the 2023 season. Bligh Madris saw action with the Houston Astros while Kyle Leahy made his MLB debut with the St. Louis Cardinals on July 7. Check out the full list of Colorado Mesa Baseball Alums:

Bligh Madris (2015-18) will play for the Detroit Tigers this season after spending last season with a Houston Astros and the previous season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

Kyle Leahy (2016-18) was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals and is still with them. He spent a majority of his time with the Memphis Redbirds (AAA) last season. 

Reagan Todd (2018) spent the 2023 on the IL with a shoulder issue. He is with the Colorado Rockies and last pitched in AAA with the Albuquerque Isotopes.

Haydn McGeary (2019-22) was a breakout star in the Cubs organization last year. He was recently listed as the 10th best first base prospect by MLB Pipeline.

Spencer Bramwell (2018-22) completed his first season of minor league baseball with the Low-A Jupiter Hammerheads an affiliate of the Miami Marlins.

Caleb Farmer (2018-22), like his college teammate, finished his first professional season with the High-A Wilmington Blue Rocks with the Washington Nationals.

Kannon Handy (2020-23) pitched sparingly last summer for the ACL Rockies after a full collegiate season in the spring. 

Andrew Morris (2019-21) split time between Low-A Fort Myers and High-A Cedar Rapids in his first season in the MILB. He is currently in the Minnesota Twins organization.

RMAC DOMINATION
Colorado Mesa won its 11th straight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title in 2023. Since 2009, Colorado Mesa has won nearly 82 percent of their games against RMAC competition as they have a 419-94 record in that span prior to the season.