Nick Walker enters his fifth season as an assistant coach with the Roadrunners in 2015-16. He helped the team to its best season in recent history in 2015
after leading the Roadrunners to a 28-22 record, including 21-14 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.Walker assisted the Roadrunners to the RMAC championship game after upsetting No. 16/15 CSU-Pueblo and No. 3/2 Colorado Mesa in the first and second round of the conference tournament. It was the deepest run for MSU Denver in the postseason since 2002. He also helped the team to a 17-game home winning streak from January into April, the second-longest home winning streak in school history.Throughout the season, MSU Denver led the conference in fielding percentage. The pitching staff finished third in the RMAC in earned run average and led the conference and broke the school record for strikeouts per nine innings. He coached four all-RMAC players, including two that also earned all-region in senior pitcher Kris Lalk and junior designated hitter Jeff Levett. In the classroom, the team had six academic all-RMAC selections.The 2014 squad went 14-29 overall and 12-26 in the RMAC, but was a victim of a 2-9 record in one-run games. Despite the losing record, the Roadrunners ranked second in the RMAC in ERA and third in lowest opponent batting average. Junior catcher Darryl Baca was named all-region after leading the conference in home runs and batting .366. A highlight in the season included a 9-7 win over nationally-ranked Colorado Mesa, which went on to reach the national championship game.
The Roadrunners were a much improved team in 2013, Walker's second season. The most notable improvement came in the pitching department. The team ERA went from 7.25 in 2012 to 5.62 in 2013, leading to a 20-27 record, five more wins than the previous season, and a berth in the RMAC tournament. MSU Denver entered the conference tournament winning six of its final eight games, but was eliminated by the two RMAC teams that qualified for the NCAA tournament.
Senior third baseman Jacob Nelson was named honorable mention All-America after batting .370 and leading the region with 12 home runs.
Five players were named academic all-RMAC as well.
Despite a 15-31 record in 2012 in his first season, Metro State won four of its final seven games to finish on a strong note, batting .403 over those final seven games.
The Roadrunners were led by Darryl Baca, who was named RMAC freshman of the year and earned first team all-region honors. Two more freshmen put together some outstanding feats as Mitch Gibbons and Mike Thill were the first Metro State freshmen to earn RMAC player or pitcher of the week honors in school history. Baca batted .372 with 52 runs batted in and 11 home runs, leading the team in all three categories. Gibbons hit .340 with 28 runs and 24 RBIs and Thill led the team with a 4-5 record and a 6.75 ERA.
Walker spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach at Wheat Ridge High School in Wheat Ridge, Colo., after serving as a graduate assistant in 2009 at Colorado School of Mines under Oates.
At Wheat Ridge, he led the team to the state championship game where it finished as runner-up.
Walker played four seasons at Colorado Mines and was a two-year team captain. He holds the school record for most hits in a season (83) and longest hitting streak (26 games), while ranking second all-time in hits (227). He was named second team all-conference as a freshman and first team all-RMAC as a senior. Walker led the team to its third-most wins in school history as a senior. He graduated from CSM with an economics degree in 2008.
His mother, Kathy (Crusan) Walker is in the Metro State Hall of Fame as a former volleyball player. His father, John Walker, played baseball at Metro State.
