GRAND JUNCTION, Colo – The No. 4 Colorado Mesa University baseball team exploded for 21 hits over two games this afternoon as they secured their first conference series win in a doubleheader sweep over New Mexico Highlands University at The Diamond at Hamilton Ballpark.

The Mavericks have now won four consecutive series at home this season while winning the conference series against the Cowboys for a seventh time in a row.

Colorado Mesa improves their win streak to 16 in a row with the pair of wins today while being a perfect 15-0 at home.

They are now 17-2 overall while being an undefeated 3-0 in RMAC play. The Cowboys drop to 5-12 (0-3 RMAC).

The Mavs began their day claiming a 7-3 win in game one of the double header with them using a four-run fourth inning to propel the offense.

Prior to the bottom of the fourth, the game was tied at two runs apiece with pitching owning four scoreless frames.

The Mavs scored both of their runs during that time in the bottom of the first to take the early lead with Kolby Felix coming home on a balk and Landon Nunes bringing in the other on an RBI single to right field.

The Cowboys got one run back in the second inning on a groundout to second base with them then bringing in the tying run in the top of the fourth on another groundout.

The Mavs made their four-run push in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead for good with them totaling four hits while being helped by two Cowboy errors.

Rocco DiFrancesco drove in a run on a single to left field with Felix bringing in another on a fielder's choice after the Mavs were able to load the bases with no outs.

Ezra Farmer followed with a sacrifice fly for the third run before Cameron Cartwright capped off the inning with an RBI single to shortstop.

The Mavs tacked on one more run in the fifth inning thanks to another error by the Cowboy defense which allowed DiFrancesco to score after a ball was thrown away on a double play attempt.

CMU pitching allowed just one run to the rest of the way to Cowboys as their small attempt to comeback in the top of the seventh was shutdown.

Caleb Ruter and Jackson Lapiner combined to pitch all seven innings of the contest with Ruter earning the win in his start. Ruter went four innings while allowing just three hits and two runs and striking out five.

Lapiner pitched the final three innings while earning his first save of the season.

 CMU totaled 11 hits in the game with Kennedy Hara going 3-3 as the team's leading bat. Felix and Cartwright added two-hit performances as well.

Building off their offensive showing in game one, the Mavs kept that momentum going in game two as they scored in four of the frames possible while exploding for an 11-run sixth inning.

They once again led 2-0 through the first inning with Cartwright scoring on a wild pitch and Noah Neufeld bringing in the other on a bases loaded hit by pitch.

A third run was managed in the second inning on a Farmer groundout.

Back-to-back solo home runs by Brooks Bachman and Felix continued to build the Mavs' lead in the fourth inning as they then pushed the game to 5-0.

It was in the emphatic sixth inning that the Mavs put up an 11-spot with them bringing 14 batters to the plate while only totaling four hits.

Farmer, Isaac Torres, Shane Crough, Felix and Braden Cox were responsible for those runs with each of them collecting RBIs.

Torres recorded a bases clearing triple in his pinch-hit while Cox may have had the biggest at bat of the day with him collecting his first collegiate hit on a pinch-hit grand slam to centerfield.

Merrick Bostock would also total a run that inning with him stealing home on a pick off attempt.

On the bump, Cole Seward made his first start of the season while limiting the Cowboys to just two hits. He needed just 48 pitches in his four innings of work while earning his first win of the year.

Rafael Espinoza and Abe Ahlberg combined to pitch the final three innings while only allowing two more hits total in the shutout effort.

This was the Mavs second shutout of the season with them previously holding a team to zero runs on Feb. 7 against Cal Poly Pomona.

The Mavs' offense recorded 10 hits in the win while 23 players saw the field.

Felix and Cartwright both finished with two hits each to lead the squad.

The Mavs will look to secure the series sweep tomorrow when the two teams meet for the final game of the 4-game series at 12 p.m.