For the 12th straight season, the Maverick baseball team has won the regular season RMAC championship.
While they have looked like national contenders and have been ranked nearly all season, but have also been inconsistent at times.
The Mavs have not lost a series this season besides two early ones versus Rollins College and Northwest Nazarene University. However, they’ve also dropped at least one game to every opponent in those series besides a sweep against Colorado School of Mines, who are second in the conference.
When the team is on their game, they are a national contender, but they also can also come out flat and be susceptible to an upset. The last two series of the season continued that trend.
For the final home regular season series of the year, the Mavs played the New Mexico Highlands University Cowboys (Highlands), who came in the series last in the RMAC at 3-21. After a rain delay, game one began with the annual firework night at Suplizio Field. Preseason All-American pitcher Liam Hohemstein got the start and dominated the Cowboys, going seven innings and striking out 11 in the 9-1 win.
In game two, it was the Mavericks who were on the other end of a dominant pitching performance. The Cowboys starter got a complete game win, as the Mavs lost 3-1, giving Highlands just their fifth DII win all year.
Just like they have all season, the Mavs bounced back, dominantly, to win the series. Both the pitching and hitting were great, winning games three and four 12-1 and 11-0 respectively.
Following the Highlands series, the squad went to play the Adams State University Grizzlies where there were lots of ups and downs.
After the great performance against Highlands, Hohenstein got the ball in game one again and seemed to be getting back in rhythm after struggling in the early season. However, the high powered Adams State offense got to him and the other Maverick pitchers in an absurd game.
The Grizzlies were able to run-rule the Mavericks, winning 28-16, a score that seems like a football game. Somehow, Mesa bounced back the next two games in an even more absurd way.
In game three, the Mavs annihilated and embarrassed the Grizzlies winning by 30 runs, 36-6. Mesa scored 14 runs in the second inning and hit 10 home runs in the game. First baseman Braden Winget did the most damage for Mesa, hitting three home runs and a triple for a RMAC record tying nine RBI’s.
Against Adams State a week later, Winget had a historic game, setting the RMAC record with nine RBIs with three home runs too.
Mesa continued to look like one of the best teams in the country in game three, winning 24-7. Outfielder Kolby Felix was the star in this one, going 5/5 and hitting for the cycle, the second time a Maverick has done so this year.
Despite scoring 60 runs in 14 innings on the Friday doubleheader, the Mavericks lost 14-10 in the final game allowing Adams State to split the series.
Looking ahead, Colorado Mesa University (CMU) will host the RMAC tournament. The tournament could be up for grabs as CMU has dropped games to all the teams at the tournament, except the second-seed Mines. The Mavs could also run away with the tournament, running away to the championship winning big.
The two-loss tournament begins this week with games all day Wednesday to Friday and the championship on Saturday.