With a record of 53-12, the Maverick baseball team was dominant last season with a starting rotation that was almost untouchable and a hitting lineup that was consistently powerful. There is still one thing that they are longing for going into this spring that escaped their grasp in 2019: a national championship title.
The Mavericks made the trip back to the NCAA DII World Series in Cary, NC in 2019 for the second time in three years and they played the University of Tampa (UT) after going through some tough competition to get there. The Mavericks did not come back to Grand Junction with the title but are eager to fight to make it back to the championship.
“Obviously the season didn’t end the way we wanted it to in Cary. Making it to the National title game was a pretty surreal experience but every guy last year didn’t dedicate all the time and energy into the game that we did just to participate and go for the experience, we went there to win and came up short,” catcher Spencer Bramwell said.
Coming into the 2020 season, the Mavericks are ranked second nationally (NCBWA) behind number one University of Tampa who barely beat the Mavericks to win the national title.
“We had a great year last year and we had great leadership, a relatively young club. Unfortunately, we lost to the University of Tampa 3-1 in the Championship game. We started five sophomores and one freshman in the championship game against a very seasoned club so coming into this year all those sophomores are now juniors with a little more experience,” Head Coach Chris Hanks said.
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) is one of the strongest baseball conferences in all of DII. When the pre-season polls got released earlier in the year, the Mavericks were picked to finish first yet again. There is some stiff competition with teams like Colorado School of Mines, who are ranked No. 23 nationally. Metro State University-Denver and Dixie State are known to be significant competitors in the division as well.
The club has 25 players returning from last season’s team, including three key bats for the Mavericks in Caleb Farmer, Jordan Stubbings and Spencer Bramwell, who add significant power depth to the Maverick’s lineup.
“They are hugely impactful, they are great kids, we need those kids to have a great year to get back to Cary,” Hanks said. “But before that, we need them to play well to have a good weekend next weekend on our first series. They are very instrumental, they are juniors, they are leaders and they are the guys that will be in the middle of our order.”
Bramwell helped the team both offensively and defensively with a fielding percentage of .976 but he also contributed at the plate with a batting average at .371. He was also named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team after the teams run in Cary.
“On the field personally, I want to be a leader and a productive and dependable teammate,” Bramwell said.
The team will also have Tanner Remple as he is coming back from an injury. Remple will serve as the other catcher alongside Bramwell.
“We got Remp back, that’s good. That’s real important. He’s a kid that is very offensive. He can help us. He’s very athletic. He’s a guy that already enhances what we already have,” Hanks said.
The team has looked to fill holes in their starting rotation after losing their ace pitchers, JR McDermott and Garrett Hutson. To fill those roles, Andrew Morris, will take over as a mainstay on the mound. Morris finished his freshman season with an Earned Run Average (ERA) of 3.88 and 67 strikeouts in 69.2 innings.
Trevin Reynolds will also be heading back to the mound for the Mavericks. The senior proved himself to be someone the team can rely on in the starting rotation with an ERA of 3.96 and 7-2 record in his junior season.
Expect to see some new faces at Suplizio too. Ryan Day and Anthony Durbano are two Junior College transfers that could help the team out on the mound. Freshman Jared Ure, Kannon Handy and Jacob Rhoades could be seen on the mound for the Mavericks as well. In addition, pitchers Josh Danyliw and Gage Edwards, who did not pitch a lot in their freshman season, could be seen on the mound this spring after having a good fall.
“We have some returning guys that went to the World Series that were freshman and did not pitch a lot that have had really good falls in. Josh Danyliw and Gage Edwards are a couple of them,” Hanks said. “The first few weeks we will pitch a bunch of different people there won’t be any pitchers pitching complete games or anything like that we will ease them into the year.”
The team is going into the season with relief pitching up in the air but know where they are headed. Junior Garrett Tisdall will be given opportunities in the closer role while Cade Nicol could be used in the middle innings.
They open the season with Nova Southeastern in Florida before the season home opener against Minot State Feb.14 at 2:30 p.m.
