DENVER – Through six games in the 2020 season, the Metropolitan State University of Denver baseball team had struggled to put all facets of the game together in order to find that elusive first victory.

Everything aligned on Sunday, however, as senior Cade Crader provided an absolutely dominant starting pitching performance in the first game of a doubleheader with Emporia State while Cade Peters led the offensive attack in an 11-0 win for MSU Denver.

Zach Sundine provided a strong start on the hill in game two and the offense kept rolling as the Roadrunners (2-6) picked up a doubleheader sweep over the Hornets (6-4) with a 7-2 victory in the second game.

"I told my team, and this is not lip service to them, in 15 years of coaching I've never been more proud of a team than I was today," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "Everything was going against them. Everything. We don't play for 13 days and pretty much every one of those days was indoors. We didn't get any live at-bats. Then we basically had to shovel this field off of snow, then we had to face two really good arms yesterday.

"(Emporia State is) a good team. They've got good players. They're picked in the top of their conference and the first arm that we saw right out of the gate (on Saturday) is probably one of the better ones that we'll see all year. That was a tough day yesterday."
But with Crader on the hill in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader, momentum shifted drastically.

"Cade Crader, the pitching the way that he did, he set the tone and allowed our hitters to get going," Strain said.

Crader was nearly flawless on the mound in game one, going eight innings and giving up just four hits while striking out nine Hornets and walking none. Through two starts and 14 innings pitched so far in 2020, Crader has given up just 10 hits while striking out 17 batters and walking just one. He owns a perfect 0.00 ERA and a miniscule WHIP of 0.76.

"He's done a nice job," Strain said of Crader. "He's worked really hard. His velocity's gone up since I first got here. His offspeed stuff is really good. Coach Vig has done a great job with him. He's been really good these first two weekends for sure."
Crader was just happy to get back in the win column.

"It shows what we are capable of," Crader said of Sunday's two wins. "The first series and the games yesterday just really weren't who we are. For me, it's just doing my job to the best of my ability. That's just going out there, putting up zeros and not letting them score."

Not to be forgotten amidst Crader's dominance was the impressive performance of his fellow Cade, Cade Peters, who went 6-for-7 in the twinbill with five runs scored, two doubles, a home run, and four RBIs. He was 3-for-4 in the first game and 3-for-3 in the second.

Through eight games this season, leads MSU Denver with a .481 batting average and .815 slugging percentage. His seven runs scored also lead the Roadrunners.

"I'm just trying to keep it simple," Peters said of his approach at the plate. "This is my last season, so I'm just trying to have fun out there, not trying to do too much."

Peters led an offensive attack that produced 30 hits on Sunday, including 16 in the first game.

The Roadrunners' first two runs of the day came on a two-run homer from Peters in the second inning of game one before MSU Denver broke it open in the sixth with a four-run rally.

The Roadrunners put any hope of an Emporia State comeback to rest in the eighth inning, as Brice Martinez wore a pitch to get on base and then scored on a wild pitch/stolen base/wild pitch sequence to make it 7-0.

Alex Gonzales brought Chase Anderson home on an RBI double before a Zach Walsh RBI groundout made it 8-0. Doubles from Peters and Owen Reynolds and an RBI single from Andrew Chavez put three more runs on the board in what would become an 11-0 final.

Anderson and Reynolds joined Peters with three-hit games of their own in the opener, while Austin Alarid slammed the door shut with a perfect ninth inning in relief of Crader.

MSU Denver was steady in all facets of the second game. The Roadrunners responded quickly to a first-inning Emporia State run with a four-run burst in the bottom of the frame, capped by Dylan Nelson's first home run of the season, a two-run no-doubter to right field.

Emporia State got one back in the second, but that would be it for the Hornets as Sundine went four strong innings, striking out four. Jimmy Dobrash struck out the side in the fifth before Eric Cox finished the contest with two scoreless innings.

MSU Denver scored twice in the third on RBI singles from Reynolds and Nelson to make it 6-2, while a sacrifice fly from Zach Walsh pushed the final run across in the sixth.

Walsh was 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs in the second game, while Nelson was 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Reynolds went 2-for-4 in game two, while Brice Martinez was 2-for-3.

The Roadrunners will take their momentum to Edmond, Okla., next weekend to face Central Oklahoma in a three-game series that will start Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. CST. MSU Denver returns to the Regency Athletic Complex for a three-game set with Sioux Falls (S.D.) starting on Friday, Feb. 28.