DENVER – Here's about all you need to know about the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference baseball tournament.
The top seed, Colorado Mesa, split its four-game regular-season series with sixth-seeded CSU Pueblo, which at one time was ranked in the national top 15. The third seed, Colorado School of Mines, split its four-game regular-season series with fourth-seeded Adams State. And, even though fifth-seeded MSU Denver lost three of four against second seed Regis, it was an extremely close series decided by an average of two runs per game.
Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, it was well within the range of possibility that there could have been a four-way tie for second place. As it turned out, Regis and Mines tied for second at 20-12, while Adams State and MSU Denver tied for fourth at 19-13.
So, you think the tournament is as wide open as it's ever been?
"For sure," seventh-year MSU Denver coach
Ryan Strain said. "You look at it, and all the way down the line the series have been close. This is the first time since I've been here that the sixth seed is over .500 overall. Anyone can beat anyone."
Play in the double-elimination tournament starts Wednesday at 11 a.m. with the aforementioned matchups – Mines vs. Adams State and host Colorado Mesa vs. CSU Pueblo – before MSU Denver wraps up the opening day with a 7 p.m. game against Regis.
When MSU Denver and Regis played March 22 and 23 at the Assembly Athletic Complex, Regis was playing for the first time in 10 days, while the Roadrunners had just played a Sunday-Monday series before playing the Rangers on three days of rest.
On March 22, Regis won the opener 11-8 and the second game 3-1. The following day, MSU Denver squandered a 6-2 lead after seven innings and lost 8-6 in 10 innings, then rallied in the seven-inning second game, overcoming an 8-2 deficit with three in the sixth and four in the seventh to win 9-8.
"It was a weird week," Strain said. "We just couldn't get things going. We swung the bats pretty well and did a lot of good things, but we just couldn't get over the hump and get the big hits when we needed them, or get the shutdown innings when we needed them.
"Our pitching staff was coming off short rest after shoveling snow off our field the previous weekend, and guys just didn't have their best stuff – I don't know if the short rest had anything to do with it. The series just didn't have any flow to it, but it was four close games that could have gone either way."
After Wednesday's first round, play continues Thursday through Saturday. Should MSU Denver win Wednesday, it would play the Mines-Adams State winner at 7 p.m. Thursday. If the Roadrunners lose Wednesday, they would play the Mesa-CSU Pueblo loser at 11 a.m. Thursday.
MSU Denver (28-22 overall), unranked among the top eight in the South Central Region, more than likely will need to win the RMAC Tournament in order to advance to the NCAA Tournament for a third consecutive season.
"That's what I've told them, but who knows?" Strain said. "The bottom line is just play like it's do or die."
