DENVER – Two days. Four games. Nine runs.
 
Against the No. 13 team in the country.
 
MSU Denver's pitching staff spun two more spectacular outings on Saturday at the Assembly Athletic Complex, leading the Roadrunners to a doubleheader sweep of Colorado School of Mines, 6-2 and 5-4, and a 3-1 series win over the Orediggers.
 
"That's what we've said to our pitchers from the beginning, just give us a chance and the offense will get going at some point," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said.
 
On Saturday, Conner Nantkes followed up Austin Stone's solid four-inning start with five dominant relief innings in the opener, then in the second game Brad Helton made his first career start, retired the first 10 batters in order, faced the minimum through four innings and took a no-hitter into the fifth.
 
Though Helton was touched for four runs in that inning, MSU Denver rallied to re-take the lead and Brandon Moore and Eric Cox combined for 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief to finish it off. Moore improved to 3-0, while Cox earned his third save of the season and 12th of his career, moving into a third-place tie in program history in career saves.
 
"I felt like I had some of my better stuff this weekend – I feel like a lot of our pitchers did," Nantkes said. "It was fun to watch and fun to be a part of."
 
Nantkes, who also pitched two scoreless innings of relief Friday, allowed one run on three hits with one walk and a career-high nine strikeouts while improving to 2-0. For the weekend he struck out 13 in seven innings while surrendering only four hits and two walks.
 
"He seems to get better the more he throws – at least that's what he tells me," Strain said. "We've used him an inning or two here and there to try to use him in as many games as possible. But he's said, 'Just throw me. I'm a senior. Let me get as many innings as I can.' He did a really good job both days."
 
Nantkes has made multiple multi-inning relief outings thus far, working 20 1/3 innings in eight appearances, striking out 26 while fashioning a 3.10 ERA.
 
"It's my last year here, use me as much as you want," Nantkes said. "I am not afraid of anything at this point. I'm ready for anything at all times. If he'd needed me to take my sweats off at any time in the last game, I would have done it."
 
The key to the left-hander's success:
 
"Just throw everything hard," Nantkes said. "That's my M.O."
 
In Saturday's seven-inning second game, Strain felt safe keeping Nantkes in sweats. It all started with Helton's strong outing.
 
"He was great," Strain said. "He's a freshman who's got a little bit of arrogance to him, which I like. Going four innings was the longest he'd gone, so we stretched him out a little bit, and he had a no-hitter going, so it's tough to take him out at that point. He competed his tail off and did a great job and gave us a chance to get the offense going."
 
Zach Schuler put the Roadrunners (12-6 overall, 3-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) ahead for good with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth, capping a two-run rally after Mines (12-4 overall, 1-3 RMAC) had tied the game.
 
"I wish sometimes our guys would have as much confidence in themselves as I have in them," Strain said of his offensive attack. "Think about the fear the other team has. Looking at us, 1 through 9, they've got to get through nine good hitters. Our guys need to give themselves more credit and take some more aggressive hacks."
 
Chase Anderson's second-inning grand slam gave Stone and Nantkes more than enough breathing room in the opener. Schuler had two hits and two RBIs in the nightcap, and Ross Smith also drove in two runs.
 
But the stars of this series were on the mound. Considering that it was a relatively inexperienced area entering the season and that a couple of early losses included some tough innings for pitchers, this weekend's developments were impressive.
 
"We kept working," Nantkes said. "It would've been easy to be defeated after having a couple of less-stellar series, but we just trusted the process, kept working, and if anything we worked harder. Obviously it shows. Now we've got to keep it going."