GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – There's nothing to worry about any more.
 
MSU Denver is going to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
 
For the first time ever.
 
As Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament champions.
 
Early homers by Zach Schuler and Cam Yuran helped MSU Denver forge a 5-5 tie through five innings, then the Roadrunners took advantage of a couple of fielding misplays and got an RBI single from Yuran in the seventh to build an 8-5 lead over 10^th- and 14^th-ranked Colorado Mesa in Saturday's championship game.
 
Finally, closer Eric Cox made the lead stand with his third two-inning save in four days as the Roadrunners took down the tournament's top-seeded host and earned the RMAC's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament's six-team South Central Regional.
 
"I told our guys that, to be honest, and not to be over-dramatic, besides my kids being born and my wedding, this is the happiest day of my life," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "I don't think, when I took this job, that maybe a lot of people thought we could do this, and it wouldn't have happened without our administration, our coaches, our players … everybody has done a terrific job the last five years."
 
The Roadrunners also won the RMAC Tournament for the first time since 2002.
 
"I could probably cry right now," said right fielder Ross Smith, the tournament's most valuable player. "I'm super proud of my team. I love these guys so much and they are so much fun to play with."
 
MSU Denver (35-20) will now play at one of two three-team, double-elimination South Central regionals next weekend, with the winner of each regional advancing to a best-of-three South Central Super Regional.
 
The Division II selection show to reveal the pairings is set for Sunday at 8 p.m.
 
"It's amazing," Cox said. "I had a dream last night that we did this. I told Strain about it this morning. It's surreal right now."
 
Joining Smith on the all-tournament team were Yuran, pitchers Conner Nantkes and Carter Akerfelds, and catcher Colin Stone.
 
A notable omission from the all-tournament team was Cox, who merely shut the door once again, this time mowing through Mesa's vaunted 2-3-4 hitters in the lineup – Caleb Farmer, Haydn McGeary and Spencer Bramwell are Division II's equivalent of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri of the 1927 Yankees – striking out the first two to end the eighth and Bramwell to lead off the ninth.
 
"I was talking to (center fielder) Tanner (Garner) in the outfield and we said, 'As long as we make it to the seventh and we're up and we put Eric Cox in, it's game over,'" Smith said. "Eric Cox got on the mound and shoved like he always does."
 
Still, a high-wire act was required as Mesa eventually loaded the bases in the ninth before Cox induced a groundout to end the game and set off the celebration.
 
"We thought he was going to get MVP because both he and Ross deserved it," Strain said. "The outs Cox got in this tournament were unbelievable. We were just hoping we could get to the eighth inning with the lead – and we did. Our offense did just enough, and we got Cox the ball.
 
"He made it a little interesting at the end – he does that from time to time – but he told me this morning that he had a dream last night that we were going to win the championship."
 
With the bases loaded, Cox said he had plenty on his mind.
 
"Don't give up a home run, No. 1," he said. "That would've ended the game. And I've seen it happen on this field a ton. So I just wanted to continue to execute pitches."
 
MSU Denver, which won an elimination game earlier Saturday against UCCS behind Akerfelds' clutch complete-game pitching performance, showed it was ready to go early in the championship tilt.
 
With pitcher Austin Stone working on two days' rest after pitching seven innings in Wednesday's tournament opener, Smith helped him out by cutting down a runner at home plate on Mesa's third straight hit to start the game.
 
Stone steadied from there, and the Roadrunners got on the board on Yuran's second-inning homer, then added a
run on a Caleb Albaugh sacrifice fly in the third.
 
"When the first game ended, (pitching coach Mark) Vig came to me and said, 'Stone wants the ball,'" Strain said. "So I said, 'all right.' He's been dragging his arm around all year long, but to be able to suck it up only a few days after he threw a lot of pitches and give us those innings to stretch out our bullpen was tremendous."
 
Mesa (39-14) tied the game in the third on Farmer's two-run homer and added two more runs in the inning on an RBI groundout by Matthew Turner and Jordan Stubbings' RBI double.
 
Stone was charged with the first three runs. But Nantkes continued on to complete his strong tournament, working 3 1/3 innings while allowing two runs on five hits. Nantkes (6-1) made three tournament appearances covering eight innings, and allowed four earned runs while striking out eight.
 
Meanwhile, Schuler tied it with a clutch two-run homer in the fourth, and Bill Ralston gave MSU Denver a 5-4 lead with an RBI single in the fifth.
 
Bramwell pulled Mesa back into a tie with his fifth-inning homer, but the Roadrunners went ahead to stay in the sixth.
 
Yuran walked, stole second base and scored on a two-out error by the Mavericks.
 
"We just scrapped," Yuran said. "We did everything we could to get runs around. That's how you've got to do it."
 
In the seventh, Albaugh walked, moved to second on Ralston's single, and scored on Yuran's single to left center. A second run scored on another Colorado Mesa error.
 
"We kind of had to grind out some at-bats and grind to get some runs in," Strain said. "We had to keep putting some balls in play to hopefully make them make some mistakes. And we were able to keep adding on to keep some pressure on them.
 
"You have to stay close against them. If you get behind early, it's tough to come back because they're so good. If you keep putting balls in play and keep making pitches, you've got a chance."
 
Smith was just 1-for-5 in the championship game, but he also had two big assists on throws from right field. The Roadrunners also got a spectacular defensive play by third baseman Ralston for a ninth-inning out, and also got a key line-drive double play in the bottom of the seventh when reliever Brandon Moore entered the game.
 
Smith finished the tournament 9-for-22 (.409) with three homers and eight RBIs. Colin Stone was 7-for-17 (.412) with two homers and five RBIs. Yuran was 7-for-22 (.318) with two homers and five RBIs.
 
Reaching the regional with the automatic bid was sweet for the Roadrunners. Last year was a near-miss as the tournament was shrunk due to COVID-19 cost-cutting and only four teams made the regional – the Roadrunners were ranked fourth in the region but UCCS stole a bid by winning the RMAC Tournament.
 
Heading into this weekend, MSU Denver was ranked eighth in the region and may have been left out had it not won the championship game.
 
"Last year was the most heartbreaking thing I've ever been part of," Strain said. "And I said, 'I'm not going through that again.' Thank God I'm not."
 
Said Yuran: "We played our hearts out and we deserved it."