DENVER – Austin Stone is an early riser, and that's a good thing for the MSU Denver baseball team.
 
With the offense off to a relatively sluggish start in a 10 a.m. game, the right-handed strikethrower cruised through seven shutout innings Saturday as the Roadrunners wrapped up the regular season with a 10-4 victory over Colorado Christian.
 
"I'm usually up early," Stone said. "I like having that time of the day for myself … or for pitching. It was a little bit of a change going from playing at 7 or 8 at night (Friday) and then getting ready to go again first thing in the morning.
 
"I'm not one to worry about early games, late games, whenever I'm able to get in there, I'm OK to do it."
 
Stone (5-1) scattered five hits while walking one and striking out six.
 
MSU Denver (32-8), about 14 hours after wrapping up a 21-1 victory over the Cougars, scored a run in the third inning, three more in the fifth and another in the sixth to lead 5-0 when Stone departed.
 
"We just didn't play very well," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "I know we played last night, and it was a four-hour game, and the starters came out pretty early – so I don't know if we just lost our edge a little bit, or what. Then we turned around and started stretching at 7:15 or 7:30 in the morning. We just weren't really ready to go.
 
"But the good news is that Stone was ready to go. He was really, really good. He kept us there while we were just kind of going through the motions on offense, kept putting zeroes up."
 
MSU Denver, which has already clinched the best single-season winning percentage in program history, locked up the No. 2 seed for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament with a 28-8 record in league play that is the best for a second place team in the league since at least 2002.
 
Still, it didn't come as easily as Friday's victory.
 
Bill Ralston's two-run homer in the fifth gave the Roadrunners a little breathing room at 4-0.
 
"I was on-time on a fastball," Ralston said. "I got a little help with the wind, and that was nice. But it was good to get a couple of runs on the board early when we needed them."
 
But Colorado Christian, which served as the home team as the game was relocated and started early to avoid a forecast with afternoon rain, pushed across three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
 
"It's hard to grind out wins, hard to sweep teams, but I would have liked to have seen us not make as many mental mistakes," Strain said. "It got to 5-3 and maybe they poked the bear a little bit and all of a sudden we started swinging the bats."
 
In the top of the ninth, Jake Barber delivered a leadoff double, then moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Chase Anderson and scored on Caleb Albaugh's single. Niko Piazza drove in another run with a single, then Jake Williams' three-run homer made it 10-3.
 
"It's karma," Strain said. "In the ninth inning, we get the double, Chase gets the bunt down, then we get a two-strike hit, then we get a couple guys on, and then we get the home run. That's how baseball works. If we don't get the bunt down, then maybe something bad happens and we don't score any runs, and then they come back and tie it up or win it.
 
"That's why you have to do the little things well – so that that big things will happen. Today we got a little selfish trying to get ours, figuring we were going to go score 20 runs again instead of doing what we're supposed to do. The runs will come if you execute what you're supposed to execute."
 
The homer for Williams was his 15^th of the season, putting him tied for third in program history for a single season with Logan Soole (2019), Rusty Befus (1989 and 1990) and Todd Vaughn (1986). Williams was also hit by a pitch Saturday for the 21^st time this season, one short of the program's single-season record.
 
With two more homers, the Roadrunners now have 75 for the season – the program record is 79 during the 52-game 2019 season.
 
But, ultimately, it was Stone's start that got things rolling in the right direction.
 
Combined with relievers Reichle Arcilise and Eric Cox, MSU Denver struck out eight batters to run their season total to 377. The program record is 382, set in the 57-gaame 2008 season.
 
In his last three starts, Stone is 3-0 with an 0.95 ERA, striking out 22 while allowing only three walks and 13 hits in 19 innings. For the season his ERA is at 3.80.
 
"He's highly competitive, throws a lot of strikes," Strain said. "He's got a lot of confidence. We feel good with the ball in his hands."

By throwing strikes – and working fast – Stone keeps his defense sharp behind him, allowing players like third baseman Ralston to make plays such as a couple of nifty charging, short-handed pickups and off-balance throws on the run.
 
"His tempo is the fastest I've seen," Ralston said. "He catches batters off guard all the time not ready to swing. He's a competitor who throws strikes and we're always ready to make plays for him."
 
Stone's approach to pitching plays … morning, noon or night.
 
"I throw to contact," he said. "If you get hit, you get hit, but most of the time when they put the ball in play our defense has it. So that's what I focus on, staying away from the heart of the bat and getting ground balls and fly balls off the hands or the end of the bat."