DENVER – All Ryan Strain wants from his 13^th-ranked MSU Denver baseball team is multiple runs every inning.
 
Through 14 games this season, the Roadrunners have actually come reasonably close to achieving that impossible expectation.
 
"Nothing really surprises me with these guys," Strain said. "Down 7-1 the other day, they didn't flinch. It was weird. When they need to get it going, they usually have. They think that I think we should put a crooked number up every inning … and I do. I'm frustrated when a zero goes up on the board."
 
After receiving a 10-rung promotion to No. 13 in the NCBWA Division II Top 25 poll on Wednesday, the Roadrunners have the program's highest ranking since the 2008 team reached No. 11.
 
They'll test out their high-powered offense and highly-regarded ranking this weekend in an unusual scheduling arrangement, playing home games at the Assembly Athletic Complex on Thursday at 2 p.m. against Regis and Friday at 11 a.m. against Colorado Christian before playing Saturday at noon at Colorado School of Mines and Sunday at 1 p.m. at CSU Pueblo.
 
This weekend's schedule came about as Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference schools looked to fill a weekend of games before league play officially starts next weekend.
 
"There isn't anyone to play because everyone is in conference, or they were already booked when the schedule changed," Strain said. "We were all stuck needing a few games. So we just made up a round-robin and made it as even as we could with home games."
 
At 12-2, MSU Denver has surged to the front of the RMAC's list of title contenders – perhaps in some minds ahead of even perennial power Colorado Mesa, which is off to a 6-5 start.
 
"We got through the true non-conference games at 12-2, and if you'd told me that we'd do that before the season I would say that was a pretty good start," Strain said. "Of course, me being me, I think we should be 14-0 right now. We've played pretty good baseball, and we have to keep it going because we're going to get every team's best shot. We're not sneaking up on anybody."
 
Regis (7-7) is the preseason choice to finish third in the RMAC and won 3 of 4 in a conference series with MSU Denver last year.
 
"That probably cost us a chance to win the league outright and have the chance to host the conference tournament," Strain said. "That was frustrating, so we need to be ready to play for sure.
 
"They've got quite a few good offensive guys coming back. They probably aren't hitting quite as well as they were last year to this point, but they've got guys who were good players last year and they always play hard against us."
 
Colorado Christian is 2-7-1, Colorado School of Mines is 2-6 and CSU Pueblo is 1-9.
 
As previously suggested, those teams will be facing an MSU Denver offensive attack that is among the best in Division II, ranking first nationally in hits (191), second in runs (162) and doubles (47), third in homers (25), sixth in batting average (.369), seventh in slugging percentage (.613) and ninth in on-base percentage (.471).
 
"Our offense last year was really, really good," Strain said. "And now we have so many guys who had success last year coming back, that they feel good in their role and with who they are. We have a lot of old guys, a lot of veteran guys, who have played not only a lot of baseball but also a lot of baseball in this league, too."
 
Individually, Zach Schuler is the national leader in RBIs (28), is tied with teammate Ross Smith for the national lead in doubles (10) and is third in total bases (52).
 
Schuler, who bats sixth in the order, seems to have taken his game to another level this season after earning All-RMAC honorable mention honors last year.
 
"He's obviously got some good guys ahead of him, and he's taking advantage of having a lot of guys on base when he hits," Strain said.
 
Meanwhile, a starting pitching rotation that includes Carson Brown, Reichle Arcilise, Andrew Hayes and Jack Slominski continues to come together. Slominski is the reigning RMAC Pitcher of the Week.
 
"For Jack, I think it was a matter of getting used to pitching on a team with this much offense and that sometimes you have long breaks when we have big innings," Strain said.