DENVER – It's a long, grueling march to get through a baseball season.
 
MSU Denver is pressing on.
 
Next stop, another critical Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference series, this one at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
 
"They just keep coming," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "But yeah, they're all big. They have a good team, and they're playing well. And they've had some weekends where they've just played OK but they've still found a way to win."
 
MSU Denver (25-11 overall, 18-6 and second in the RMAC) continues to challenge for a league championship even though its top offensive threat, catcher Matt Malkin, has been sapped of some power while recovering from injury.
 
Despite having only one homer in his last 12 games, Malkin is nonetheless continuing to contend for an RMAC Triple Crown. He leads league with a .441 batting average (26 points better than his nearest competitor), 19 homers (five more than second place) and 56 RBIs (no one else has more than 41). He was 8-for-13 (.615) in a four-game series split last weekend against Dixie State.
 
"It's a little unfortunate for him that he's been injured," Strain said. "But to continue to do what he's doing with one arm, it's pretty impressive. The power hasn't been there. But he's continued to have good at-bats, and he still can beat you at any point. He was healthier last week than he was the week before, and he'll be healthier this week than he was last week."
 
The four-game series at UCCS (23-15, 15-9 and tied for fourth) includes a game Thursday at Security Services Field – Colorado Springs' minor-league ballpark – as well as three games on campus: a doubleheader Friday and a single game Saturday. First pitch each day is at noon.
 
Despite being banged up, the Roadrunners continue to plug players into the lineup with solid results.
 
"When you get to this part of the season, everybody is dealing with some stuff," Strain said. "It seems like we've dealt with a little bit more than the average, but our guys have continued to play hard and we've continued to have guys step up, especially on the mound. That's why we have depth. That's why you go out and continue to recruit good players, because things like this are going to happen. We're going to continue to fight through it."
 
Another case in point is left-handed pitcher Zach Sundine, who got a spot start due to injury last weekend and merely pitched six strong innings for a win, allowing one run on five hits to an opponent with the best team batting average (.335) in the league.
 
"When we recruited him, I thought he had a chance to be a really good arm for us," Strain said. "He was up-and-down in the fall, had some good moments, but had some arm soreness so we had to shut him down. Then he (was ill) and basically missed all the practice time heading into the season. He lost a bunch of weight – and he's not a guy who can really afford to lose weight – so it took him a while to get back into shape and be able to throw. And the way other guys have been throwing, he hadn't really had an opportunity to go out there a whole lot. But he showed some nice stuff during a couple of intrasquad games that we had, so we knew he was capable."
 
Sundine will likely remain in the rotation this weekend.
 
"The key to his success is that he was down all day," Strain said. "His misses were down. And he's left-handed, and there's not a lot of good left-handed starting pitching in our league. Guys don't see it a whole lot. Most of the time it's a bullpen guy who is only in there for a little bit. He competes. He's a good athlete, so he fields his position well. And I think his biggest strength is his confidence in himself. He's got a little grit in him."