DENVER – Perhaps the hottest baseball team in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference was stopped cold last week.
 
MSU Denver was off, cooling off a team that scored 80 runs in a four-game sweep of Adams State.
 
"It was good in a lot of ways," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said of the scheduled bye week. "We needed it. We were pretty beat up and limping to the finish – even though the scores of the games might not seem that way. Guys were worn out.
 
"The (Colorado) Mesa series (a four-game split April 8 to 10) was high intensity, mentally and physically, and then you go to Adams and play long games in the wind on short rest – that beat on our guys. It (the bye) seemed to come at a good time, but you never know for sure.
 
"Health-wise it was good, but we've got to be ready to go again. When you don't play for a week, it takes a lot of maturity from the guys to make sure they're ready to go."
 
The Roadrunners (27-15 overall, 16-8 and second in the RMAC) are back in action this weekend in a potentially huge series at Regis (24-21-1, 17-11). After Friday's 3 p.m. opener, the teams play a noon doubleheader Saturday and a 3 p.m. single-game Sunday.
 
"They've been playing well," Strain said. "They're in the mix. They've got a couple of really good arms – (Justin) Kleinsorge seems like he's been there forever and he's their best guy. They've got a group of hitters who have been swinging well. They do some things to try to manufacture runs. They'll be solid. They're steady. They'll give us a good effort and they always play well against us."
 
In a scheduling oddity, compounded by the 2020 shutdown due to COVID-19, the Roadrunners are playing at Regis Baseball Field for the first time since 2017. Since then, the teams have played 16 games against one another since last playing at Regis, 14 at the Assembly Athletic Complex and two at neutral sites (MSU Denver is 10-6 in those games).
 
The nature of MSU Denver has changed over the past five years. The Roadrunners have morphed from a team that in 2017 averaged 6.0 runs and just under one homer per game to an offensive juggernaut averaging 10.0 runs and a shade under two homers per game.
 
The 80-run, four-game barrage of two weeks ago was a program record (breaking the mark of 66 the team set in March).
 
"We're swinging well, and hopefully that will continue," Strain said. "They feel good. We've gotten to a place where our lineup is kind of set. We've got Chase (Anderson) hitting 7, which is a pretty good No. 7 hitter (Anderson was an All-American last year). (Tanner) Garner has been on fire in the 8 hole. If you look at our lineup, I mean you've got to be kidding me. Our worst hitter (by average) is Bill Ralston (an All-American who is among the national leaders with 18 home runs), and he's hitting .330. Every single guy can leave the ballpark at any point."