As the end of the regular season approaches, CMU baseball (32-10, 26-6 RMAC) has some ambitious goals. They hold the top spot in the Mountain Division of the RMAC, claim the second place in the NCAA Central region rankings and are sitting in the 16th spot in the NCAA D2 national rankings. While their success has been a product of the entire team, they have had tremendous production from senior outfielder Jeff Popick.

“He’s played good defense and he’s been our offensive leader throughout the year,” coach Chris Hanks said. “When you a re able to combine those two things, obviously they will equal out to success.”

Popick is a product of Lakewood High School. According to Hanks, he was touted as one of the best players in his league.

“When we recruit, we call up different leagues,” Hanks said. “So when five or six people bring up the same kid, you know they are one of the best guys.”

Popick considered playing two years in junior college before making his way to D1, but decided that the atmosphere of CMU and the prestige of the baseball program was the right fit for him.

“I didn’t want to have to go to junior college for two years just to leave and find another school,” Popick said. “CMU has a great tradition for winning, so that’s what decided it for me.”

Popick has been a steady producer for the Mavericks since his career began. As a senior, he holds a batting average of .396, has 59 hits, 51 RBI and four home runs. He also plays exceptional defense in the field, boasting a .948 fielding percentage. During the home series against Nebraska-Kearney, Popick had possibly one of the best individual performances in school history. Throughout the series, he went 8-10 with seven RBI and nine runs.

“Sometimes you just have those weekends where everything is going right,” Popick said. “It was a fun weekend because everything was clicking for me and I’m happy I was able to put together a series like that.”

The next week, he was rewarded for his outstanding play by receiving National Player of the Week by D2baseballnews.com. Popick claimed that he was honored by the award, but still looks for ways to improve his game.

“I’m just looking to build off of that,” Popick said. “I’m going to stay focused and keep working hard to win an RMAC championship.”

The Mavs finish their schedule this weekend in Golden against Colorado School of Mines.