DENVER – If this is the way it's going to be, maybe MSU Denver should consider having Senior Weekend more often in the future.
 
Other than the tradition of honoring seniors in their final home games of the season, there's no rule against it, right?
 
After all, Tyler Phillips turned in the third dominant outing of the weekend for a victory by a Roadrunner senior pitcher on Saturday, working five scoreless innings in a 6-0 victory over Colorado Christian in the second game of a doubleheader at the Assembly Athletic Complex.
 
The official Senior Day ceremony preceded a 9-5 loss to Colorado Christian in the opener, and the Roadrunners turned to Phillips to finish the regular season right.
 
"I really wanted us to win the first game and have a clean sweep against them, and as seniors that was something big that we all wanted," Phillips said. "But after that game I knew I just had to do my best, and get the team back in the dugout to hit. That's all I tried to do."
 
Phillips (3-3) allowed only four hits while walking two and matching a career-best with eight strikeouts.
 
"We needed that," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "I'm really happy for Philly. He dominated the whole time. He has the ability to do that, and he's done it. It was nice to see him go five strong innings, and he was pretty much in command the whole time. He did it when we really needed it."
 
Brandon Moore, another senior, pitched a scoreless sixth inning for a hold, and the Roadrunners (31-19 overall, 20-12 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) broke it open in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run double by Tanner Garner and a two-run single by Caleb Albaugh.
 
After losing the opener, the best MSU Denver could do was finish in a second-place tie in the RMAC with Regis, and Regis will, unofficially, receive the No. 2 seed for the league tournament on a tiebreaker after winning three of four against the Roadrunners last week.
 
Also unofficially, the double-elimination tournament will be played in Grand Junction, Colo., home of regular-season champion Colorado Mesa, starting Wednesday. The Roadrunners will match up against fourth-seeded CSU-Pueblo in the first round, with fifth-seeded Colorado School of Mines facing Regis and sixth-seeded UCCS playing Colorado Mesa.
 
Phillips' victory came the day after Conner Nantkes pitched five scoreless relief innings for the win in the first game of a doubleheader and Carter Akerfelds followed up with a five-inning outing as a starter that was also good for the win in the nightcap.
 
Seniors Nantkes, Akerfelds, Phillips and Moore combined to pitch 16 innings for the weekend while producing a 1.69 ERA.
 
"The seniors threw the ball really well, and it was great to see that," Strain said. "They gave us a chance to win all those games."
 
Said Phillips: "I'm proud of all the guys. I've played with them for four years and it was a big accomplishment for all of us to pitch well."
 
Also honored in Saturday's ceremony were pitchers Austin Stone and Jonathan Pierce, and outfielder Chase Anderson. Graduate transfer outfielder Blake Mattey also played his final home games.
 
"Senior Day is always tough for everybody," Strain said. "Our seniors give it everything they've got. I tell our guys all the time that you only get a short period of time to have a career, and you've got to take advantage of it. And those guys have. They've given everything they had during their time here, and I love those guys. I love what they do and what they've meant to this program."
 
Phillips pitched around errors in each of the first two innings and got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the second when he started a streak in which he retired 11 of the final 15 batters he faced.
 
"My fastball the first couple of innings was really good," Phillips said. "I was trying to get the curveball and slider to start working, and by the last couple of innings they were. My changeup was really good today, too."
 
Garner and Albaugh each had two hits and combined for five RBIs to lead the offense. And center fielder Ross Smith made a terrific, lunging, over-the-shoulder catch with his back to home plate.
 
In the opener, Cody Schultz was 4-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 17 games – it was snapped in the second game when he walked twice and twice lined out – and Zane Schmidt homered.
 
"I was disappointed with the first game," Strain said. "We really didn't do anything well – didn't pitch well, didn't field well, didn't swing the bats well. We really didn't swing the bats well all day. We got enough hits to win the second game only because we pitched it really well.
 
"It was good to bounce back and get the series win. We should have gotten two today, but it's baseball – if you don't play well on a given day, it's tough."