DENVER – The last time the MSU Denver baseball team faced CSU Pueblo, the Roadrunners cruised to a 16-0 victory that dropped the ThunderWolves to 2-12 back on March 5.
But, in the 3 ½ weeks since, CSU Pueblo has become one of the hottest teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, winning 10 of 13 overall while shooting to second place in the league at 9-3.
MSU Denver (22-8, 7-5) will get another look at the ThunderWolves this weekend in a four-game series at the Assembly Athletic Complex, with a single game Friday at 3 p.m., a noon doubleheader Saturday, and the series finale at noon Sunday.
"Their numbers are better than when we saw them last," MSU Denver coach
Ryan Strain said. "I knew they would be solid. They didn't really lose of ton of guys from last year – a couple of good pitchers for sure.
"They've got some solid arms this year, and they key for us – like it is every weekend – will be to try to get into their bullpen."
MSU Denver has gotten into a few bullpens this season with a prolific offense that leads Division II in batting average (.369), hits (399) and doubles (94) while ranking second in home runs (57), slugging percentage (.625) and runs (346) and fourth in on-base percentage (.467). The Roadrunners lead the country with an average of 11.5 runs per game.
Admittedly never satisfied, Strain soaks in the positives but wants to keep improving.
"Before the season, if you said you were going to be 22-8, well that's a pretty good start," Strain said. "But we're three close games away from being great. The walkoff loss at Mesa, and one-run games against UCCS and Regis … if we win those we're 25-5 and have three more league wins and would be 10-2."
Individually,
Ross Smith is tied for the Division II lead with 17 doubles and ranks seventh with 54 hits, while
Tanner Garner is second in the country with a .481 batting average, second with 1.96 hits per game and is seventh with 14 doubles.
Cam Yuran is third in runs (47) and
Cody Schultz is fifth (46), while
Zach Schuler is fourth with 48 RBIs and
Jake Williams is eighth with 45.
Garner, who is also the 12
th-toughest batter to strike out in Division II with one per 21.2 at-bats, is also the reigning RMAC and South Central Region Player of the Week after batting .550 (11-for-20) with five doubles, one homer and 12 RBIs as the Roadrunners won three of four games at Regis last week. Garner tied the league's single-game record with nine RBIs in the opener and had 11 RBIs in the first 11 innings of the series.
Sidelined in the fall of 2021 after joining the program, Garner had only just begun getting at-bats in practice when the 2022 season began. After a slow start, he hit .402 (43-for-107) after March 26 to finish the season at .341. From March 27, 2022, through March 27, 2023, Garner has hit .441 (94-for-213).
"He plays the game really hard," Strain said. "He pushes it to the line sometimes, but I'd take 43 guys with his mindset, that's for sure. He's a good leader. He wants to win. He doesn't accept losing very well. I like those types of guys."
