DENVER – As Senior Days go, they don't get much better than this.
The Nos. 19 and 20 MSU Denver baseball team set and extended the program record with its 15
th and 16
th consecutive victories, tied the program record with its 38
th win of the season, and completed a four-game sweep of Colorado Christian with triumphs of 15-6 and 12-2 in a Sunday doubleheader at the Assembly Athletic Complex.
And every senior who was physically able to play did so, and did well.
"It's been a long journey, but I've loved every single minute of it," infielder
Zach Paschke said. "I never thought it would come, but now here it is. It was a struggle today, because I'm a senior and I'm going to be done at some point."
Said catcher
Colin Stone: "It's crazy it's already here. It's sad, but it's exciting at the same time."
Perhaps the most poignant moment of the day came as pitcher
Josh Thompson made his first appearance in over a year, facing two batters and recording an out in the seventh inning of the opener.
"It was really awesome to get him in there," Strain said. "It was nice that (Tyler) Schultz got two outs and gave Thompson a clean slate to work with nobody on base. He wanted a chance to go on the mound one more time and it was cool to get him out there."
Stone drove in six runs in the opener with a three-run double, an RBI single and a two-run homer and
Jack Slominski pitched six innings for the win, improving to 9-1 and tying the program's single-season win record. The nine-win plateau has been reached five times previously, the last in 2015 by Ryan Baca.
Carson Brown (4-1) was outstanding in the second game, allowing two runs on seven hits while fanning eight in six innings.
"Carson was really good," Strain said. "That's as good as his command has been of two pitches all year."
Jake Williams homered, while
Tanner Garner and
Cam Yuran each had three hits to lead the offense.
The team's 38 wins matches the mark set by the 2008 team that went 38-19. At 38-8, the Roadrunners are on pace to have the program's best winning percentage as well – the 2021 team was 34-10.
MSU Denver has four regular-season games left, then heads to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament.
"Being able to add onto the win streak, and then winning 38 games, those are big deals," Strain said. "We're 38-8 and we've hopefully got a lot of games ahead of us and can keep things rolling. I'm proud of the team. They've worked really hard to get to this point."
