DENVER – All season long, the tension has built as the teams picked to finish first and second in the RMAC have been building toward this defining weekend.
 
Oh, wait. It's just the first weekend of conference play.
 
Well, in the absence of that dramatic escalation of interest, there's still a heck of a series on tap this weekend as Nos. 13/27 MSU Denver travels to play a four-game set at perennial power Colorado Mesa, which started the season with a high national ranking and is receiving votes in both polls after a slower-than-normal start.
 
"It's a little bit different," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "I think we all would have enjoyed playing them later in the season, if nothing else because it's a good atmosphere there and I would have liked to play a night game with good weather and a good crowd, but it is what it is.
 
"We've just got to be ready to play. You have to play everybody anyway, so it doesn't really matter what order you play them in. You have to be ready to play each week."
 
MSU Denver is off to one of its best-ever starts at 15-3 and at No. 13 in the NCBWA poll is nearing what is believed to be the program's highest-ever ranking (No. 11 in 2008).
 
Colorado Mesa is 9-6 despite having to replace Division II's version of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth (Caleb Farmer and Haydn McGeary finally moved on to professional baseball), not to mention Tony Lazzeri (Spencer Bramwell).
 
The series includes a single game Friday at 3:30 p.m., a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m. and a single game Sunday at noon.
 
How big can the first series of the league season be? Big, but maybe not as big as it might have been at the end of the season.
 
"You have to look at it as, 'This is who we're playing this weekend,'" Strain said. "Obviously it's a big weekend just because of who we're playing. But when we finish this series, we'll have 28 games left in the season.
 
"It's just one weekend, but it's a weekend where you have to play well. You try to be ready every weekend, and we've done a better job the last few years of understanding that every weekend, every game, is important. If we go in and play well, that would be great, but then it's on to the next weekend."
 
MSU Denver finally snapped a 15-game losing streak to Colorado Mesa last season and wound up going 3-3 against the Mavericks, including a dramatic win at Mesa in the RMAC Tournament's winner-take-all-championship game – a win that secured the Roadrunners' first-ever trip to the Division II National Tournament.
 
With most of its starting lineup returning, along with a good portion of its pitching staff, the Roadrunners understand what it's like to play against the Mavericks in Grand Junction, Colo.
 
And even those who haven't experienced it still have an inkling.
 
"We have so many Colorado kids, so they know a lot of Mesa's players, and a lot of our new guys have played with some of Mesa's guys in summer ball or high school or travel ball," Strain said. "There are teammates on both sides of this, and I know they'll be excited and ready to play."
 
MSU Denver's offense has been prolific thus far: the Roadrunners lead Division II in hits (246), rank second in runs (210), doubles (55) and home runs (35), and are sixth in slugging percentage (.605).
 
Ross Smith is one of five players with a nation-leading 11 doubles, while Zach Schuler is fourth in RBIs (32) and Cody Schultz is seventh in runs (29).
 
"We want to continue to do what we've done offensively – don't give up at-bats – and continue to play well defensively," Strain said. "That back end of our bullpen has been really good. And now we'd like our starting pitching to be a little more consistent. If we can get four guys to give us four quality starts on the weekends, we're going to be tough to beat."
 
Closer Eric Cox – who just set the RMAC's career saves record – is second in the country with five saves, and starter Jack Slominski is tied for fourth with four wins.
 
"We're playing well," Strain said. "We've had a couple of hiccups along the way, but in a 50-game baseball season, that tends to happen – although I wish it wouldn't. We've had some games where we've seen that we have to be ready to play – although I don't think there will be a problem with that for this one, especially considering the recent history we've had with them. I expect our guys to be ready and they're excited to play."