DENVER – Watching his team as it has rolled to the best start in school history, MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain has choices to make.
 
The Roadrunners, ranked 18^th in NCAA Division II and 15-1 for the season, are sixth nationally with an average of 11.0 runs per game and ninth with a .348 team batting average and with 27 home runs.
 
Strain has choices to make because it isn't coming from just one guy, or a couple of guys. It's coming from nearly everyone who has gotten an at-bat this season.
 
The way some of the games have turned out, sometimes making out the starting lineup has been the most stressful part of the day.
 
"I watch batting practice throughout the week, and I really make it off of that, based on how they're swinging," Strain said. "Some of them, I can kind of tell when it's going to go south. And sometimes it's good to come out of the lineup and take a break, to get a little of the pressure off and relax. We try to take advantage of that.
 
"There are three or four guys who are going to be in there just about all the time, and then we try to keep our catchers fresh and the others it's trying to figure out who is hot and playing well. A lot of it is just a gut feeling. A lot of the times we've been right. Sometimes it's who we're facing, who's going to have success against a harder thrower and who's better against more of a curveball-type of guy."
 
MSU Denver, 11-1 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, will play host to both Colorado Christian (4-7 overall, 3-5 RMAC) and CSU-Pueblo (6-10, 4-8) this weekend, facing Colorado Christian at 11 a.m. Friday, CSU-Pueblo at 1 p.m. Saturday and then playing both on Sunday -- CSU-Pueblo at 1 p.m. and Colorado Christian at 4 p.m.
 
Strain typically turns to the likes of Chase Anderson (.484, four homers, 16 RBIs), reigning regional player of the week Bill Ralston (.450, six homers, and eighth nationally with 28 RBIs) and freshman sensation Caleb Albaugh (.396). And Logan Soole (.423, three homers, nine RBIs) returned to the lineup last weekend.
 
Owen Reynolds is hitting .367, Cade Peters .359, Jake Williams .333 and Cody Schultz .313.
 
Catchers Colin Stone (.375) and Alex Gonzales (.240) are hitting a combined .306 with three homers, 14 RBIs and a combined on-base percentage of .453 and a combined slugging percentage of .612 for an OPS of 1.065.
 
Niko Piazza (.268) is tied for fourth on the team with 14 RBIs, behind only Ralston, Anderson and Reynolds.
 
Then there's a bunch of players who have fewer at-bats who have been productive as well.
 
Twelve different players have hit homers.
 
"Sometimes, you're thinking if you can get to these three or four hitters, we have a chance to score some runs, but we're going to have an inning that won't be great," Strain said. "And that puts a lot of pressure on the team because you know there are innings during a game when you probably aren't going to score. But with this team, so far, you don't feel that way. Every inning you feel like you've got a shot. We feel like we can do something at the top of the lineup and the bottom of the lineup."
 
Having quality pitching helps, too, and the Roadrunners lead the RMAC in ERA (4.64), hits per nine innings (8.5) and WHIP (1.41) while ranking second in the league and 16^th nationally with 12.0 strikeouts per nine innings.
 
Jimmy Dobrash is fourth in the league in ERA (2.37) and Cade Crader is fifth (2.91). Crader leads the RMAC in strikeouts per nine innings (17.0) and is fourth in WHIP (1.11). Eric Cox is tied for fourth nationally with four saves.
 
Add it all together and you have a 15-1 team that is off to its best RMAC start, at 11-1, since 2008.
 
"We'll take it," Strain said. "The teams we play are good, and it's hard to win. I'm really proud of how our guys have played, especially with how crazy things have been. We've got good players, and we've got good players who are pushing each other."