DENVER – After two weekends of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, the MSU Denver baseball team – ranked No. 13 in the country two weeks ago – is in fifth place in the league.
While the Roadrunners won three of four last weekend against UCCS and hope to continue making up ground this weekend, a formidable foe awaits in Regis, which is 3-1 in for third place in league play.
The series at the Regis Baseball Field has been moved up one day and now includes a single game Thursday at 3 p.m., a noon doubleheader on Friday and then a single game Saturday at 3 p.m.
MSU Denver is 19-7 overall and 4-4 in the RMAC, while Regis is 12-10 overall.
"They're a solid team, and we're going to have to play well," MSU Denver coach
Ryan Strain said. "They play different than we do. They'll bunt more and try to steal more bases. It's a different game plan against them. They're well-coached, they don't make mistakes and you have to beat them because they won't beat themselves."
MSU Denver won a non-conference game between the teams earlier this season, 13-6.
Last year, Regis won three of four games against MSU Denver.
"It was unfortunate," Strain said. "We won the first game pretty big (17-11), and then just didn't pitch it very well the rest of the weekend. That really hurt us when we were trying to go for the conference championship."
MSU Denver in 2023 continues to boast one of the top offenses in Division II. The Roadrunners lead the country with a .359 team batting average, 75 doubles and 334 hits, rank second in home runs (50) and slugging percentage (.609) and third in runs (271).
But perhaps most importantly for the Roadrunners last weekend was the outstanding work of its starting pitchers.
Jack Slominski,
Reichle Arcilise,
Andrew Hayes and
Carson Brown combined to go 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA, allowing only 24 hits in 22 1/3 innings, with three walks and 23 strikeouts.
"If we can do that, usually we're going to win four games," Strain said. "Unfortunately we didn't swing the bats very well the first game. But they all threw the ball well, and our bullpen was good, too.
"If your starters are going five or six innings every game, it doesn't leave a lot of innings for your bullpen. But it also keeps your bullpen fresher and you can utilize them better."
