DENVER – Losses don't come much tougher than Saturday's first game.
 
Wins don't feel much better than Saturday's second game.
 
No. 21 MSU Denver fell victim to an eight-run, ninth-inning rally in the opener of a doubleheader with Regis in a 13-7 defeat, but bounced back for a 5-2 second-game win, to wrap up Senior Day and clinch a victory in the four-game series.
 
"We're a very resilient team," MSU Denver first baseman Jake Williams said. "We fight back. We like the competition. The first game was unfortunate, but things happen."
 
MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain was impressed at that resiliency.
 
"That was as gut-wrenching a loss as we've had all year, as we've had a long time," he said. "That's baseball. Sometimes it doesn't work.
 
"I told them it was crucial that we find a way to win the series. We've only lost one series all year. We had to find a win to win, and we did. I didn't want to say too much. At that point, the less you say is better."

Being able to turn things over to game-four starter Austin Stone sure helped.
 
The right-hander worked through four one-hit shutout innings and finished with a seven-inning complete game, allowing two runs on four hits, with one walk and eight strikeouts.
 
"I threw the changeup less than I normally do, but everything else was pretty spot on," Stone said.
 
Stone (4-1) said he focused less on the previous game and more on – you guessed it – winning the series.
 
"It's just going out there to win a series, rather than looking at the last game," Stone said. "When you've won two and lost one, you've got to win the series."
 
He showed his feisty competitiveness, too.
 
"There's always an edge there," Strain said. "There's some passion between our teams. But Stoney composed himself. We needed him to stay in there. He competes, and he's going to give you his best effort. There's never a doubt about that. If he has a tough day, it's never because he isn't ready to go."
 
And, when Regis tied the game with two runs in the top of the fifth, Williams was there to untie it in the bottom of the fifth when he lifted his 12^th homer of the season over the left field fence – unusual because he typically drops rocket shots onto the hill beyond the fence in right center.
 
"He'd thrown changeups to the previous two hitters, so I was sitting on it," Williams said.
 
Stone then took the Roadrunners home.
 
"Attack them," Stone said of his mentality at that point. "Fill up the zone. When you have a lead, you have a little bit to work with."
 
MSU Denver got two runs in the bottom of the sixth, and then a spectacular catch by center fielder Owen Reynolds helped quash a potential Regis uprising in the final inning.
 
The tough-luck loss in the opener overshadowed a career-best 11-strikeout performance by Jimmy Dobrash, who worked the first six innings.
 
Two-run homers by Caleb Albaugh in the first and Niko Piazza in the fifth had given the Roadrunners two-run leads, at 2-0 and 5-3. It was 7-5 before Regis' ninth-inning rally.
 
"We had plenty of chances to get the lead to four or five, and if we had, maybe that last inning doesn't happen," Strain said. "But they were only down two, then they get a couple guys on, and now they've got momentum, and then everything just started to fall in."
 
A doubleheader split is a bittersweet day. And so, too, is Senior Day.
 
Twelve Roadrunners were honored before the opening game with statements recapping their athletic and academic achievements.
 
"It's always tough to send guys off," Strain said. "You recruit them, then you get them here, and they work so hard and play for you and then it hits you – these are the last home games that they're going to play.
 
"Our 12 seniors are tremendous people. The guys who were here before me, and the guys who I did recruit, are all tremendous people. Coach (Jerrid) Oates did a tremendous job building the program and bringing in great kids, and we've just been able to add to that. They're going to be successful. During the ceremony, you realize how accomplished they are academically. They are going to have success when they leave here."
 
Said Stone: "It's sad, but happy, anxious. I'm excited for them to see where they go, but at the same time I'm not excited to not see them next year."