SERIES HISTORY WITH NORTHWEST NAZARENE
Like Colorado Mesa, the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks have been on the road for the first 14 games of the season and will host Colorado Mesa this week for their home opener. 

The Nighthawks have come out of those first 14 games with a 9-5 record having swept Biola and a series win with Sonoma State. They split the series with RMAC foe CSU Pueblo last weekend and dropped the season series to Chico State.

After the series with Colorado Mesa, the Nighthawks will begin Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with Western Oregon in Monmouth, Ore.

SCOUTING THE NIGHTHAWKS
Northwest Nazarene earned a sweep of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference awards this week earning both Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week for the conference. 

Nighthawk starting pitcher Cole Calnon was named the GNAC Pitcher of the Week after limiting CSU Pueblo to just one run on five hits, walked two and struck out nine in a complete game effort. He is 2-0 on the season with a 1.20 ERA.

Bryan Rojas was named GNAC Hitter of the Week after slashing .579/.579/1.158 in the series with the ThunderWolves. He added 10 runs scored, nine runs driven in with five doubles and two homers. 

PITCHING PRESENCE
The Colorado Mesa pitching staff still appears to be a position of strength through two weeks of the season. The team ERA sits at 3.10 heading into the third week of the season with just two current bullpen pitchers even sporting an ERA. Seven pitchers still have an ERA of zero and two others with an ERA have a WHIP under 1.00.

Senior Jordan Pace has an ERA of 2.35 and a WHIP at 0.91 after two long relief appearances. He figures to factor into the rotation, possibly this week, while David Craig earned a start in week one and skipped the start last weekend. 

Liam Hohenstein has 10 strikeouts in eight and two-thirds innings and sports a 2.08 ERA through two starts.

WIN THE CLOSE ONES
The Mavericks have played several close games early in the season with five of the six games coming with margins of victory at two runs or less. Colorado Mesa is 0-3 in one-run games thus far and 2-0 in two-run games.

During the entire 2024 season, the Mavericks played eight one-run games and seven two run games.

They played to an extra inning loss in the middle game of the Chico series that wound up being a one-run game. The Mavericks took the lead in the extra inning affair in the top of the tenth inning on a Declan Wiesner home run before giving up a pair of runs in the bottom half. 

Last season, they played just two extra inning games with both coming against MSU Denver in Denver. 

THE ROAD WARRIORS
Colorado Mesa is on the home stretch to their season opening 10-game road trip that covers two states and over 4,600 miles of total travel between the three trips. They head to Nampa, Idaho for a four-game series with the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks.

After playing the first six games of the season on the road, the Mavericks sit a 2-4 after playing two of the top three teams from the CCAA. Through the six games, the Mavericks have the top strength of schedule in the South Central Region with opponents winning percentage sitting at .694.

Next week, they will return home for their home opening series with the Montana State Billings Yellow Jackets at The Diamond beginning on Thursday February 27 at 2:00pm. That evening will also be the annual Leadoff Dinner. 

Following that series, they will start conference play on the road for four-games with the New Mexico Highlands Cowboys in Las Vegas, N.M.

DOESN'T HAPPEN VERY OFTEN
The Mavericks were swept in their weekend series at Chico State last weekend. The last time Colorado Mesa was swept in a series was the opening series of the 2011 season when they dropped four-straight to now Division I UC San-Diego at Triton Ballpark. The Tritons were coming off a trip to the NCAA Division II National Championship game where they fell to Southern Indiana in the title game.

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 2024 season. Check out the full list of Colorado Mesa Baseball Alums and ways to follow along on their professional journey:

Bligh Madris (2015-18) // Detroit Tigers
Kyle Leahy (2016-18) // St. Louis Cardinals
Reagan Todd (2018) // Colorado Rockies
Haydn McGeary (2019-22) // Chicago Cubs
Spencer Bramwell (2018-22) // Miami Marlins
Caleb Farmer (2018-22) // Washington Nationals
Kannon Handy (2020-23) // Colorado Rockies
Andrew Morris (2019-21)  // Minnesota Twins

RMAC DOMINATION
Colorado Mesa won its 12th straight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title in 2024 and was the unanimous selection to win their 13th in row in the RMAC Preseason Poll as selected by the coaches prior to the season. 

Since 2009, Colorado Mesa has won 82 percent of their games against RMAC competition as they have a 477-105 record in that span prior to the season.