DENVER – MSU Denver is set for its home-opening baseball series, with Biola (Calif.) coming to the Assembly Athletic Complex for doubleheaders at noon both Thursday and Friday.
 
The Roadrunners won three of four when the teams played in California last season, and Biola went on to finish 19-27 overall and 13-15 in the Pacific West Conference. Picked to finish sixth in the league this season, Biola opened the year with two victories over Cal State Dominguez Hills.
 
"I think they'll be solid," MSU Denver coach Strain said. "They were last year. It'll be a good test for us. Coming off a weekend where we thought we should have won three and we only won one, we'll need to play well this weekend to try to get ourselves rolling."
 
MSU Denver, picked second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, squandered a pair of ninth-inning leads at Northwestern Oklahoma State.
 
"Offensively we had some really good moments, but we had some at-bats that we gave away that probably cost us games," Strain said. "You can say the pitching gave it up late but we had chances to expand leads. That's what we've been so good at the last two or three years – for the most part we've been able to increase leads and put teams away. Last weekend we kind of let them hang around. When you do that, on the road, things like that can happen."
 
Catcher-designated hitter Zach Schuler came flying out of the gates, batting .583 (7-for-12) with three homers and a Division II-leading highs 11 RBIs and 3.7 RBIs per game. He was tied for second in the country in homers and ranked third in slugging percentage (1.500) and total bases.
 
"Every year, leading up to the first game, he wasn't swinging well and then this year he just didn't have many at-bats because he was sick and missed some time," Strain said.
 
On the mound, Strain expects to run out a rotation of Andrew Hayes, Nolan Livsey, Jack Slominski and Brad Helton. Hayes and Slominski both tied the single-season school record with nine wins last season, and Livsey is a talented left-hander who sat out last season. Helton, meanwhile, turned in an impressive six-inning start last weekend, allowing one run on four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts, but had to settle for a no-decision.
 
"He threw really well last summer and was an all-star in the Northwoods League – that's a wood-bat league, but he was facing really good hitters," Strain said. "Then he had a really good fall, and he's been our best guy in the spring.
 
"So that didn't surprise me, but it was good to see."