The road to the World Series is a long one. It starts from the very beginning of the February and accumulates at the very end of the season in June.
The Colorado Mesa University baseball team’s ultimate goal this season is to make it to and win the World Series. It is a reachable goal and every step of the way there are many crucial games. The Mavericks experienced their first big stepping stone on the road this past weekend against Cal Baptist and came away with a 2-2 series tie.
Both good and bad things were shown in the series. The Mavericks and the Lancers switched off winning and losing in the four-game series but only the last two games consisted of wins that were by a four-or-more run margin.
CBU’s pitching slowed down the bats of CMU quick and fast as CMU, over the four-game series, had a team batting average of .208 compared to the last series against Dixie State in which they hit an outstanding .306 as a team against the Trailblazers. The Lancers’ pitching staff is carrying a 2.51 era this season and held the Mavericks to 13 combined hits in their two wins against CMU.
Now 13 hits is not a bad number, in which this shows how talented the Mavericks hitting truly is. Six Mavericks possess above a .300 with at least 14 at-bats and that was lead by Keenan Eaton. Eaton, after 43 at-bats this season, has put up a team-high .395 batting average with nine RBI’s to go off of his 17 hits.
However, against Cal Baptist, Eaton only carried out only two hits throughout the entire four-game series.
CMU started the series out continuing their winning streak from the week before after sweeping Dixie State in a four-game series. The Mavericks’ ace, Kyle Leahy, had his first rough showing of the season as the junior allowed nine hits in 6 innings pitched. Pitching, especially in the bullpen, struggled for the rest of the series. On Saturday, after starting pitcher Chris Ramirez retired six innings allowing only one run off of six hits, five different pitchers were used for the remaining three innings. All remaining five pitchers, combined, allowed seven runs off of 12 hits. The same bullpen allowed four runs in game two of the series in which the Mavericks blew a 5-1 lead to lose 8-7.
CMU’s team ERA on the season now stands at 4.70. Not too bad, but the third best team in the country should not have a hard time allowing less than four runs per game. Give or take, the Lancers are the sixth best team in the country and have scored 66 runs this season already, which is in the top ten in Division II.
CMU is behind only Regis University in the RMAC in terms of team era, however, the rest of the RMAC is not up-to-par with CMU or Regis.
Last season, CMU lead the RMAC with a team ERA of 3.18 and the bullpen was considered one of the best in the conference. This past series shows considerate weakness that does need improving.
Relief pitcher Nick Cardinale received the loss on Saturday after giving up three runs on only one hit. Cardinale, last season, was a red-shirt. This year, he has allowed the one hit but has pitched only one full inning.
In the same game, freshman pitcher Michael Sears pitched .1 inning and allowed two runs off of two hits. Three of the five relief pitchers that gave up seven runs on Saturday are freshman. CMU graduated more than enough seniors after last fall and are trying to get the new pitchers up to speed. It is tough competition for the new bullpen to compete against but it is a call of duty they must step up to if they want to win important ball games.
Consistency is one of the hardest things to bring out in baseball, yet, the Mavericks did have a harder time showing consistent play throughout the four-game series in California. Before Cal Baptist, CMU ranked third in the nation in Division II baseball and are still considered a favorite to win the RMAC and head to the World Series.
The season is still young, however, the Mavericks have already accumulated a third of the number of losses they sustained last season in which they only lost 12 ball games.
