DENVER – Chase Anderson (Littleton, Colo./Columbine) was a man with a plan.
 
With the score tied 2-2 in the seventh inning Saturday, Metropolitan State University of Denver's left fielder had two runners on base with one out when facing Regis left-hander Matt Heibult.
 
"I knew he'd been going breaking ball most of the time with runners in scoring position," Anderson said. "He threw me a changeup first pitch and I put a bad swing on it, so I knew he was going to come with it again. I sat changeup, got changeup and I hit it."
 
He hit it a long way.
 
Anderson's three-run homer over the left field fence rewarded another strong starting pitching effort from the Roadrunners' Austin Stone (Arvada, Colo./Faith Christian) and catapulted MSU Denver to a 5-2 victory and a school record-tying 12^th straight win.
 
The Roadrunners improved to 18-7 overall and are one game behind national No. 1 Colorado Mesa for first-place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference at 11-2.
 
"The majority of those wins weren't real stressful," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "We needed to have a game like today where we had a close game and had to figure out how to win.
 
"And the hardest thing to teach kids who are 18 to 22 years old is to not get complacent. Every game, every day, you've got to come ready to play. It doesn't matter if you've won 12 in a row or if you haven't won 12, if you come ready to play, good things are going to happen. Hopefully we'll learn from that and come out with a little more energy to start."
 
MSU Denver and Regis (8-18, 3-10) are scheduled for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Sunday before wrapping up the series on Monday with a single game set for 4 p.m.
 
The Roadrunners' winning streak was in jeopardy before Anderson took care of business with his clutch blast. It was the fifth homer or the season for Anderson, the No. 2 hitter in the lineup who is third on the team with a .365 batting average.
 
"That was a big hit," Strain said. "We've got a lot of good hitters. Up and down the lineup, we have guys who can get big hits and really, 2 through 8 in our lineup can run the ball out of the ballpark at any point. So you feel good about that when they're up.
 
"Chase got a good pitch to hit, stayed on it, and smoked one."
 
There has been so much publicity – deservedly so – for cleanup hitter Matt Malkin (Broomfield, Colo./Monarch), the national leader in homers, RBIs and slugging percentage, that some of the other Roadrunners in the lineup can get overlooked. But, as a team, MSU Denver is also the national leader in homers and slugging percentage while ranking in the top five in batting average and runs.
 
"I think we take the stress off him, and he takes the stress off us," Anderson said. "We have nine really good bats. If half of us go cold one game, we still have half our lineup that will still go up there and put good swings on the ball. It's reassuring to know that if you do have a bad game that there are guys who can pick you up who are just as talented as you are."
 
Also appreciated, but often overlooked, has been the work of Stone, a right-hander who has been MSU Denver's season-long Friday starter (granted, this series started on Saturday due to weather).
 
Stone allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits, with two walks and four strikeouts in his seven innings of work, and he wouldn't have given up a run if a double-play ground ball had been turned behind him in Regis' two-run fifth.
 
"Today was a good day," Stone said. "I felt good coming out of the 'pen, and everything was working. My mind was right."
 
Stone improved to 4-2 while trimming his ERA to 4.25. He has seven walks in 36 innings while striking out 25.
 
"He just fills up the (strike) zone and competes," Strain said. "He lives on the corners and basically throws the ball where he wants most of the time. When you don't walk guys and beat yourself, good things are going to happen."
 
Said Anderson: "There's a sense of comfort knowing that he's going to go out there and throw strikes and that he's going to compete. He's going to give us a chance to win. All we have to do is score four or five runs and that's going to be enough with him on the mound."
 
LSU transfer Taylor Petersen (Gilbert, Ariz./Highland) worked the final two innings for his second save, allowing a hit and a walk while striking out two.
 
MSU Denver will attempt to win its 13^th straight game in Sunday's doubleheader opener. A 12-game Roadrunners winning streak was last accomplished at the end of the 2001 (three games) and start of the 2002 seasons (nine games).
 
"One game at a time," Stone said. "We can't get too cocky. We can't get too far ahead of ourselves. We're a humble team and we want to stay that way. Twelve straight, but let's make it 13."