GOLDEN, Colo. – Another rough weekend concluded for the MSU Denver baseball team Sunday, as 28
th-ranked Colorado School of Mines completed a four-game sweep with victories of 12-8 and 6-0.
The defeats extended the Roadrunners' losing streak to end the regular season to eight games.
"It was a tough weekend," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach
Ryan Strain said. "We didn't play well, really, in any phase of the game. It starts with pitching – we just didn't get very good starts this weekend. It seems like over the last eight games, we've given up runs in the first inning of every game and we're down before we can even blink. And it's trickled down to the offense and we've been giving away some at-bats."
MSU Denver (27-22 overall) finished 19-17 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, finishing in fifth place. The Roadrunners will now gear up for the RMAC Tournament.
"It's frustrating," Strain said. "I thought we had a good week of practice after a tough weekend last weekend against Mesa, but we just didn't bounce back. We're going to get our guys going and get them some confidence back. A new season starts on Wednesday. Our coaching staff will get together and we'll figure out a plan that we think can help our guys get going again to see if we can't make a run in the tournament."
In the nine-inning opening game, the Roadrunners fell behind 8-0 after four innings and 12-1 after seven before making some noise.
Zach Walsh and
Ty Lightley both homered – Lightley's was a grand slam – but MSU Denver wasn't able to overcome the early deficit.
Matt Malkin's RBI double in the ninth made it 12-8.
Then the Roadrunners were shut out in the seven-inning nightcap for a second straight day, this time on a four-hitter by Drew Hill (7-2), who struck out 10.
Malkin was 2-for-3 in the nightcap after going 1-for-2 in the opening game, putting his average for the season at .428. He led the RMAC with 24 homers and 67 RBIs.
Auggie Francis of New Mexico Highlands won the RMAC batting title at .434. Francis was 10-for-16 in a season-ending series at Adams State to raise his batting average by 19 points.
Colorado School of Mines, which has won 22 of 25, improved to 36-11 overall and 27-9 in the RMAC.