DENVER – Niko Piazza and Jake Williams homered in each game and MSU Denver pitchers allowed only 10 hits all day while sweeping a doubleheader from Adams State, 6-3 and 13-0.
 
The opener was maybe a little too close for the Roadrunners (23-7 overall, 19-7 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference), who had 12 hits but just couldn't put the Grizzlies away.
 
"I thought we were swinging the bats well – with the exception of a couple of innings – all day," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "The first game, we just couldn't get anything to fall, otherwise I think we could have extended the lead and scored quite a few more runs – but we kept lining out and they made some nice defensive plays. But we smoked some balls, probably seven or eight on a line."
 
Cade Crader (5-1) turned in a quality start, allowing three runs on five hits, with one walk and six strikeouts, in six innings. Carter Akerfelds followed with two scoreless, one-hit innings, then Eric Cox pitched the ninth for his fifth save, which is tied for ninth on MSU Denver's single-season chart.
 
"That's a team (Adams State) that came in hitting over .300 and has some guys in the lineup who can do some damage if you're not ready to go," Strain said. "Crader pushed through it a little bit. He may not have had his best stuff, but he was able to push through some innings and get some big outs when he needed them. Then Ack threw really well and we were finally able to get Coxie in there in a closing situation again and he was able to slam the door."
 
Leading 3-0 through 3 ½ innings of the second game, MSU Denver broke through for eight runs in a three-homer fourth inning as Bill Rlaston, Piazza and Cade Peters all left the year.
 
"We got some opportunities in the second game and some guys had some big at-bats," Strain said. "And that's what you're hoping to do."
 
Meanwhile Austin Stone pitched five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out eight, one short of his career high. Josh Thompson and Brady Mello each added a scoreless inning in the seven-inning game – it was Thompson's first appearance since March 21 and it was Mello's season debut – as the Roadrunners finished off their second shutout of the season (the other was Crader's perfect game on March 27).
 
"Stoney pitched really well," Strain said. "Obviously he could have gone further, but we were able to get Thompson back in there and get Mello an opportunity. Any time you can throw up a zero, in an RMAC game, against a team hitting over .300, you've pitched pretty well."