DENVER – It's been a season that has had a little bit of everything.
- A school-record 14-game winning streak.
- The home run heroics and Triple Crown pursuit of Matt Malkin.
- A team that for much of the season was in first place in the RMAC while leading the league in batting, pitching and fielding.
- A bit of interest from national rankings, including an appearance in the Perfect Game Top 25.
What it hasn't had has been the highest strength of schedule.
That's why, when the first set of the official NCAA Division II South Central Regional rankings came out Wednesday, Metropolitan State University of Denver wasn't included among the eight teams listed.
But have no fear, that should change. Soon.
The Roadrunners (27-14 overall, 19-9 and third in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) are gearing up for a four-game home series this weekend with No. 6 Colorado Mesa (34-8, 22-6 and first in the RMAC).
Next weekend is a road series at Colorado School of Mines (29-10, 20-8 for second).
MSU Denver's Division II strength of schedule, currently 24
th of 25 teams in the region, will undoubtedly improve over the final two weekends of the regular season.
"It doesn't really matter right now," MSU Denver coach
Ryan Strain said of the regional rankings. "Unfortunately, it's not an eye test. It's just a bunch of numbers thrown up on a screen, and everybody looks at the numbers and makes a decision. That's the unfortunate thing about any regional ranking, but in the end there's really no other way to do it.
"But the good news is, whether we were fifth in the region or whatever right now, it wouldn't matter if we didn't take care of business the next two weekends. Because it could change a bunch."
This weekend's series at the Regency Athletic Complex starts with Friday's 6 p.m. Military Appreciation Night/Fireworks Game. It continues with Saturday's 1 p.m. doubleheader. And it concludes with Sunday's Senior Day game at noon.
The Roadrunners will celebrate the careers of 12 seniors on Sunday, from one-year impact players such as Malkin, starting pitcher
TJ Egloff and reliever
Taylor Petersen, to two-year starters
Draven Adame and
Jake Kistaitis to solid four-year contributors such as outfielder
Aaron Germani.
"It's a unique Senior Day," Strain said. "This is only my second year, so the most I've coached any of them is two years. And we have some guys who have been here for about a year and others who have only been here a few months. But it's been a joy to coach all of them. They're great kids. I've been coaching 14 years and I can't imagine a senior class that I've liked more."
Others to be honored include infielder
Adam Tulley and pitchers
Nick Ulmer,
Dayne Rowley,
Hunter Hogoboom,
John Badgett and
Ryan Arnold.
"Some of them play every day, and some of them don't get to play a lot," Strain said. "But the ones who don't get to play a whole lot have been great teammates. They've continued to work hard. They've been a pleasure to have around. It's a great group of kids."
It's a great group of kids that would like to take MSU Denver into the NCAA Division II tournament for the first time in program history.
To get there, they'll have to either win the RMAC tournament to gain an automatic berth or land an at-large bid. At-large bids to the six-team South Central Regional – which includes the RMAC as well as the Lone Star and Heartland Conferences – are awarded to the three teams ranked highest in the region that don't win their league tournament.
The regional ranking committee evaluates a number of statistical formulas in determining the rankings.
The Division II selection criteria includes: in-region winning percentage, Division II winning percentage, Division II strength of schedule (opponents' average winning percentage and opponents' opponents' winning percentage), Division II head-to-head competition, and results vs. common Division II opponents. Other baseball-specific evaluations include Division II record on the road, Division II results against teams with records of .500 or better, and results against ranked Division II opponents.
How do the Roadrunners stack up?
Information released by the NCAA shows that, among teams in the region, MSU Denver has the ninth-best in-region winning percentage (23-14, 62.2 percent), the ninth-best Division II winning percentage (25-14, 64.1 percent), the seventh-best Division II road record (12-7, 63.2 percent) and the 12
th-best winning percentage against Division II teams with records of at least .500 (6-8, 42.9 percent). Then there's that strength-of-schedule thing, which is about to be addressed.
So those easy wins over Division I Northern Colorado have no impact in the Division II playoff format. And lsing games to weather against strong programs from Emporia State (Kan.) and Lubbock Christian (Texas) would have had a positive strength-of-schedule impact, regardless of whatever the outcome would have been.
Still, the numbers could change dramatically over the next eight days.
Colorado Mesa is ranked second in the region. Colorado School of Mines is fifth.
"It's a big weekend in a lot of ways," Strain said. "It can keep you in the hunt to win the conference, and these are also good strength of schedule games, which is the one thing we need – we haven't played the top two teams in our conference yet. It gives us an opportunity to make some strides. It's an opportunity for our guys to play against the best. It's something we've worked for all year, and now we've come to that point.
"This is why you play. It'll be fun to see how we match up and see how our guys play. It should be two good baseball teams playing in good weather."
