Right now, the Colorado Mesa University (CMU) Mavericks baseball team is ranked 18th in the country, but perhaps no team is hotter than the Mavs. The club is fresh off a four game sweep against Colorado Christian University (CCU) where the combined score was 83-6.
After finishing the out of conference portion of the schedule, CMU was 9-6, and dropped out of the national rankings. Once Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) play started, the Mavericks hosted then 13th ranked Metro State University Denver (MSU-D) Roadrunners.
Against MSU-D, the Mavs won three out of four, in a huge RMAC matchup. In game one of the series, CMU out-hit MSU-D to win 17-7 in an exciting high scoring game. After the Roadrunners got out to an early lead, junior Harrison Rodgers hit a three-run home run in the second inning to give the Mavericks a 5-2 lead, and they never looked back.
Despite giving up seven runs in the game, the Maverick coaching staff was pleased with freshman pitcher Liam Hohenstein. Hohenstein got the start, and pitched 6 ⅓ innings, allowing six runs against one of the better offenses in the country.
In game two of the series, CMU came back on multiple different occasions en route to a 11-9 victory. The Mavericks trailed by scores of 3-0, 6-3, and 9-7, but displayed clutch hitting several times.
Senior Julian Boyd had the clutchest hit of the day, hitting a two-run walkoff homerun. Boyd drew a ball on the first pitch of the at-bat, then blasted the next pitch over the right field wall and celebrated around the bases after the game winning hit.
The bats finally cooled off for CMU, and they lost game three 6-2. The Mavericks did hit two home runs in the game, but both came with no one on the base.
Then in a bounce back effort CMU won game four of the series 12-6. MSU-D brought the game to 7-4, but an inning later sophomore Christos Stefanos hit a grand slam to put the game out of reach.
After the series win against MSU-D, the Mavericks followed it up with sweeps of both Colorado School of Mines (CSM) and CCU.
The Mavericks mercy ruled CSM in game one, then won game two 19-3. While 19 runs scored in a baseball game is a ton, a lot of credit has to go to pitching on the day. The trio of redshirt junior Jared Ure, junior Kannon Handy, and redshirt freshman combined for 16 total strikeouts.
Game three and four of the series were much closer, but CMU still won by scores of 5-3, and 14-12. In game three the Mavericks put up five runs on CSM’s best pitcher, and looked to sophomore David Craig to preserve the small 5-3 lead. Craig had his stuff going, pitching three scoreless innings to give the Mavericks the win.
In the 14-12 series finale, both teams clearly had it going offensively. CMU had four players record at least three hits, and two hit home runs. It looked like an easy win for CMU, but CSM rallied back scoring five runs with one out in the game. However, senior Isaac Hayden came in relief and threw one pitch to get the final out.
In the most recent series, CMU absolutely dismantled CCU in a four game series. The Mavs won game one 15-0, giving head coach Chris Hanks his 1000th career win, which is 22nd all time in division II. In the milestone game, Chris’s son, redshirt sophomore Jared Hanks got a plate appearance and reached base for the first time in his career.
The Mavericks followed up coach Hanks’s 1000th win with another dominant 17-2 victory. After the first two dominant wins, CMU embarrassed CCU in game three with a 38-1 win in only seven innings. 17 of the 19 batters reached base for the Mavs, and the squad recorded an absurd 27 hits in the game.
The embarrassment for CCU finally ended in game four. The squad still lost, but the game was more competitive, seeing the Mavericks win 13-4.
Looking ahead, CMU only has one series left against an opponent with a winning record currently. Once again, the Mavericks should be poised for another deep postseason run.
