ALAMOSA, Colo. – Hayes Edens and Cal Walsh each hit grand slams as part of a four-homer, 13-run first inning, matched a program record with eight homers, and Jesse Velders had two homers among his five hits as MSU Denver earned a wild 28-15 victory Friday over Adams State in the opener of a four-game series.
 
"Obviously it was a good offensive day," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "We got off to a good start scoring 13 runs in the first inning with two grand slams – you don't see that happen very often. The guys did a nice job, for the most part, swinging the bat all day long.
 
"We had some really good at-bats, but we had some bad outs – we struck out too much. But when you have 60-some plate appearances, it's hard to be locked in the whole time."
 
The eight homers matched the program record set against the University of Denver on May 2, 1991, and MSU Denver also matched the program record of 56 total bases set against Colorado Christian on March 5, 2010.
 
The Roadrunners had season highs in runs, and extra-base hits (15) while matching a season high with 24 hits.
 
MSU Denver (22-17 overall, 13-8 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) had 13 runs on eight hits in the first-inning explosion.
 
Andrew Biddle led off with a homer, Velders followed Cam Yuran's double with a two-run homer, Caleb Albaugh drove in a run with a bases-loaded single, then Edens unleashed his grand slam to make it 8-0.
 
The hits kept on coming, as Velders followed Yuran's two-out triple with an RBI double, and two walks loaded the bases for Walsh, whose fly ball bounced over the head of the center fielder and rolled to the fence for a rare inside-the-park grand slam.
 
Velders hit his second two-run homer for an 18-10 lead in the fourth, got his fifth hit with an RBI double in the fifth, and added an RBI single in the ninth. He finished 5-for-7 with five runs and seven RBIs. 

"He's swinging a good bat," Strain said. "And it was nice to see Caleb get his first couple home runs of the year."
 
Indeed, Albaugh was 5-for-6 with five runs and four RBIs – his five hits gives him 231 for his career and moved him 17 away from breaking the school record of 247 set by Rusty Befus (1988-92).
 
He inched past Yuran – who was 4-for-5 with four runs and three RBIs – atop the program's career runs list with 188 (Yuran is second with 187).
 
Jake Williams hit his 43^rd career homer, two away from tying Befus' program record, as the Roadrunners beat Adams State for the 24^th straight time dating to the 2017 season.
 
MSU Denver remains tied for third in the RMAC with Colorado School of Mines, while Adams State (16-9 overall) is still in second place at 11-6.
 
Despite all the offense, it wasn't all that easy.
 
Adams State scored three in the first, four in the second and three in the third to get within 14-10.
 
"Give them credit," Strain said. "They battled. They got down 13-0 but they kept coming and kept playing hard the whole game. They've got a good offense. They compete and put balls in play. They had seven or eight two-strike hits early in the game."
 
No. 1 starter Jack Slominski struggled some and had a couple of plays behind him that didn't get made, but relievers Kai Inouye (1-0), Carson Brown and Zane Covey were effective over the last six innings.
 
"Kai, Carson and Covey all came in and did a nice job, filling in for us when Jack (Slominski) wasn't able to get very deep into the game," Strain said. "We're going to have to pitch better (Saturday) and continue to swing the bats."
 
The teams play a doubleheader Saturday at noon.