DENVER – Down by a dozen, win by a dozen.
 
Not your typical baseball game.
 
But MSU Denver, trailing 12-0 after 2 ½ innings, nonetheless followed that route to defeat New Mexico Highlands 26-14 on Saturday in a game that was stopped in the seventh inning because of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's 12-run rule.
 
"I don't know if I've ever been down 12-0 and come back to win it by 12 runs," designated hitter Zach Schuler said. "It was a little weird. But we're a good-hitting team and we can do that every game."
 
Schuler and Jesse Velders each had seven RBIs while delivering monstrous games, and the Roadrunners erupted for 14 runs in the fourth inning to turn the game around.
 
"I had one of my angrier outbursts before the 14-run inning," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said, smiling. "I had one before our seven-run inning yesterday. Maybe I should just do it before every inning – but you've got to save those bullets. … But that was about as bad as I've ever been coaching."
 
Schuler clubbed two homers – giving him three in the first two games of the series – while going 3-for-4, and Velders had a homer and two doubles while going 4-for-6 and scoring five runs.
 
It was nice birthday for Velders, the native of the Netherlands, whose family is in town this weekend.
 
"It was a little cold," Velders said. "But being able play and hit well, it's the best feeling."
 
The game-time temperature was 46 degrees, but it felt colder – and increasingly colder – as the wind picked up and howled away as the game progressed.
 
"It was brutal," Strain said. "It wasn't that bad the first three or four innings, but then it got bad. You had to deal with the wind blowing in your face all day. But they sucked up and got through it."
 
Despite the chilly temps, Velders continues to be anything but – he's hitting .508 (32-for-63) – since May 1, sending his batting average soaring from .250 to a team-best .437.
 
"I talked to my friends a lot, and they helped me out," Velders said of his turnaround. "I tried to make adjustments every at-bat, and it's working out pretty well."
 
Said Strain: "He's a really good hitter. It took him a while to get used to how they were pitching him. … They were pitching him backwards (breaking balls in fastball counts) and he had to adjust to that. He can hit the fastball if they come after him, and now he's adjusting to the breaking balls better.
 
"These hits he's getting aren't cheap. He's barreling them up pretty well."
 
Leadoff man Andrew Biddle joined Velders in scoring five runs, Caleb Albaugh joined Schuler with three hits and Cal Walsh added a homer in an 18-hit attack.
 
MSU Denver trailed 13-2 before scoring 14 runs on nine hits in the fourth to take a 16-13 lead.
 
"We got off to a rough start, but we know we can put up some runs – especially with the wind blowing out like that," Velders said. "We know we're a good-hitting team, and we just never give up. I think we showed that today."
 
Gavin Kaiser worked through the fourth inning and got the win as a result of the 14-run rally, then Carson Brown yielded just one run (on a home run) in three innings to pick up the save.
 
"Kaiser limited the damage and then Brownie came in and threw really well," Strain said. "That was huge.
He's got a good fastball. He's had some injuries and didn't throw this fall, and now he's starting to get back to where the fastball is coming back.
 
"He's one of our better arms. Other than the one pitch for the home run, he did a nice job. The zeroes that he put up were huge."
 
On the career charts, Schuler broke a tie with Ross Smith (2022-23) and passed teammate Cam Yuran for third place on the Roadrunners' all-time list with 39 homers. He's also now tied (with Yuran) for seventh with 158 RBIs.
 
Yuran, who had two doubles and scored three runs, now ranks fourth with 180 runs (one behind Albaugh), and both are closing in on the record of 184 set by Rusty Befus (1988-92) and tied by Reece Gorman (2005-08).
 
Yuran is sixth in doubles with 49 after passing Brian Edwards (2008-11) as well as tied for fifth in total bases (with Torrin Berge, 1987-89) at 359. Yuran also drew three walks and is now tied for second in program history (with Tracy Archuleta, 1993-96) with 112.
 
Schuler started the series ranked 12^th in career total baes, but he's now eighth with 346, and he was hit by a pitch for the 23^rd time, moving him into a tie for eighth (with Tommy Frikken, 2006-10).
 
Jake Williams was hit by a pitch for the second straight game and now stands alone as the program's all-time leader with 43, passing Tim Uhls (2000-01).
 
The series concludes Sunday with an 11 a.m. doubleheader.