GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Don't know about you, but the Mavs are feeling 22.
The top-seeded Colorado Mesa baseball team swept through the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament, claiming its 22nd tournament title on Saturday (May 11) with a convincing 11-1 victory over Regis University.
It's the second straight tournament crown for the 16th-ranked Mavericks, who defeated the Rangers in 2023 title game as well.
As they did all week, the Mavericks (38-16) combined pitching, defense and timely hitting as their recipe for success. The pitching, which has been inconsistent much of the season, was on point in every game, with a tournament-best team ERA of 3.0, allowing only 12 earned runs (15 total) in a tournament that saw 141 runs scored in 10 games. The staff combined to strike out 40 and walk only six. They did hit 10 batters — in total, 49 batters were hit by pitches in the tournament, 23 of which either drove in a run or came around to score.
Saturday's trio of Jacob Rhoades, Evan Bunevich and Ethan Voss continued to command hitters. Rhoades struck out three and walked one, allowing the only run of the game to the Rangers in the third inning. He went 2 2/3 innings, handing it over to Bunevich (5-1), who was stellar, allowing five hits and striking out two over the next 5 1/3 innings. Voss closed it out in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts, including the final out of the game.
By winning the conference tournament, the Mavericks receive the RMAC's automatic bid to the South Central Regional and will find out which bracket they will be placed in when the NCAA announces its selections at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday. The selection show will be streamed live on ncaa.com.
Colorado Mesa was No. 4 in the most recent South Central Regional poll. Six teams advance to the regionals, which are split into two three-team brackets, hosted by the top two seeds. Those winners meet for a best-of-three Super Regional series at the highest remaining seed for the right to advance to the Division II World Series in Cary, N.C.
After Regis scored the first run of the game in the third inning, the Mavericks wasted no time responding, putting up four in the bottom half.
Kennedy Hara drove a one-out single to left and Paul Schoenfeld singled up the middle. Joey Blank, inserted into the lineup as designated hitter after a good batting practice session Saturday morning, reached on an error to load the bases. Robert Sharrar worked an eight-pitch walk to get the tying run across. Kolby Felix was hit by a pitch, getting another run home, and after a pitching change, Jonathan Gonzalez was plunked to make it 3-0. A sacrifice fly by TJ Rheem gave CMU a 4-1 lead, and the Mavs added two more in the fourth.
Blank, who went 3 for 5 and drove in three runs, laced an RBI single up the middle after Declan Wiesner led off with a double to right-center.
Sharrar was hit by a pitch and Felix grounded to short. An errant throw to second got another run home before Gonzalez struck out and Rheem grounded out.
That five-run cushion was plenty for Bunevich, who allowed two more singles through the seventh inning, and got out of the seventh with a sweet double play. Rheem fielded a a ball headed up the middle and, on one knee, flipped the ball from his glove to Gonzalez at second, who made the pivot for the throw to first, where Max Berni made a nice back-handed pick out of the dirt to end the inning.
The Mavs tacked on three runs in the seventh, with Sharrar coming through with a bases-loaded, two-run single, and added two more in the eighth.
Sharrar, who made the all-tournament team, drove in three runs and Kolby Felix had two.
Also making the all-tournament team for CMU were left fielder Paul Schoenfeld and pitchers Cole Seward and Liam Hohenstein, who had dominant starts and led the tournament in strikeouts with 10 and nine, respectively. Gonzalez, who led the tournament in hitting at .600, with five RBI, was voted the MVP.
All-Tournament Team
Jonathan Gonzalez, Colorado Mesa — MVP
Liam Hohenstein, Colorado Mesa
Levi Padilla, Regis
Robert Sharrar, Colorado Mesa
Wyatt Zdisisin, Regis
Cole Seward, Colorado Mesa
Zach Barnao, Regis
Paul Schoenfeld, Colorado Mesa
Luke Folsom, Colorado School of Mines
Jacob Petersheim, CSU Pueblo
