PUEBLO, Colo. – Though the offense was putting up spectacular numbers during an 8-0 start to the season, the MSU Denver baseball team was also showing signs of having a little something else, too.
 
A potentially terrific pitching staff.
 
To demonstrate, Cade Crader and Jimmy Dobrash turned in excellent outings as starters Friday as the 25^th-ranked Roadrunners swept CSU-Pueblo 15-5 and 2-1 to improve to 11-1 overall and 7-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
"We got two great starts from Crader and Dobrash," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "Those two guys really set the tone."
 
Crader, the reigning RMAC Pitcher of the Week, allowed one run on five hits, with no walks and eight strikeouts in five innings of the nine-inning opener to improve to 2-0 with a 3.07 ERA. In 14 2/3 innings this season, he has 30 strikeouts.
 
Really though, not a surprise, based on Crader's performances since 2019.
 
And Dobrash can't be a considered a surprise, either. In his first career complete game in the seven-inning nightcap, he allowed one run on five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. Dobrash is now 2-0 with a 3.21 ERA and has 17 strikeouts in 14 innings this season.
 
"Obviously Dobrash was phenomenal," Strain said. "All his pitches were working and he competed his tail off and got out of some jams."
 
Combined with the starts of Austin Stone and Reichle Arcilise on Thursday, when the Roadrunners split a doubleheader with CSU-Pueblo (3-9, 1-7), MSU Denver's starters were 3-1 with a 2.05 ERA, allowing 19 hits in 22 innings with two walks and 28 strikeouts.
 
Still, the Roadrunners mustered only six hits in the opening game while scoring 15 runs. In a 12-run second inning, MSU Denver drew six walks and had scored five runs before getting the first of its four hits in the inning.
 
It was the Roadrunners' biggest inning since at least 2002, the point at which MSU Denver boxscores are on paper and in files in cabinets, requiring more research than daily deadlines accommodate.
 
They were held to four hits in the second game, same as in a 3-1 loss in the second game Thursday, but Bill Ralston had an RBI groundout in the third inning and a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the fifth – scoring Chase Anderson both times – to make Dobrash a winner.
 
"We didn't swing the bats very well this weekend," Strain said. "We were fortunate to win three of the four games."
 
Anderson led the offense, going 3-for-5 with three runs and four RBIs for the day.
 
"We've just got to get back to the cages and get to work and get the bats going again," Strain said. "But I'm really proud of the way the guys competed and played. Pueblo has a good team.
 
"It was disappointing not to get the fourth win, but it's difficult to sweep people, especially when you have to go down to the other team's ballpark even though you're the home team. But to drive down there and get two wins was big."