THIS WEEK
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball team will play host to Metropolitan State University Denver (MSU Denver) in a four-game series, with the first game taking place at Security Service Field. Due to the upcoming holiday weekend, the game schedule will be shifted up one day. The first game of the series will take place on Thursday, Apr. 18, with first pitch set for 12 p.m. Friday, Apr. 19 will feature the series double header at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m back at Mountain Lion Park. The series finale will take place on Saturday, Apr. 20 at 12 p.m.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
In the short history of the UCCS baseball program, the Mountain Lions have an overall record of 4-7 against MSU Denver. In those 11 games, UCCS has scored 73 runs on 110 hits including 27 doubles, one triple and 11 home runs. Last season yielded the best results against MSU Denver for UCCS as they went 3-2, scoring 39 runs on 42 hits including seven doubles, one triple and nine home runs. The best game from that season was an 11-2 route of the Roadrunners, which featured 10 hits including one double, one triple and three home runs for the Mountain Lions.

SCOUTING THE ROADRUNNERS
The Roadrunners currently own an overall record of 25-11 which includes an 18-6 record in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), giving them a firm grasp of second place in the RMAC. That record also gives MSU Denver claim to the sixth spot in the most recent NCBWA poll for the South-Central Region. MSU Denver is coming off of a four-game series with Dixie State University which they split 2-2. To this point in the season, MSU ranks amongst the leaders in the RMAC in batting average (.323, fourth), runs scored (303, third), hits (391, third), triples (18, first), home runs (59, first) and RBI (273, fourth). They also rank sixth in doubles with 74 and first in slugging percentage at .559. Individually, the Roadrunners are led by senior Matt Malkin, sophomore Chase Anderson and junior Logan Soole. Malkin is having a ridiculous season offensively as he leads the RMAC in batting average (.441), slugging percentage (.969), RBI (56) and home runs (19). He also ranks third in the RMAC in hits (56) and fifth in on-base percentage at 49 percent. Anderson ranks third on the team in batting average (.365) and home runs (seven) but ranks second on the team in hits (54, tied for fourth in the RMAC) doubles (eight) and RBI (32). He also has four triples (tied for third in the RMAC) and seven home runs, which ranks third on the team. Soole has a batting average of .344 this year and ranks fifth on the team in hits with 32, but he is third on the team in RBI with 30 and second on the team in home runs with nine. Defensively, MSU Denver is leading the RMAC in ERA at 3.91 as a team. Amongst the leaders on the pitching staff is again Logan Soole (5-2), who in nine appearances (seven starts) has allowed 18 runs (11 earned) off of 38 hits and has a team high 47 strikeouts, giving him a 2.27 ERA this year. Austin Stone (5-2) owns the next best ERA for the starting pitching staff at 4.76. He has allowed 29 runs (27 earned) on 49 hits with 32 strikeouts so far this year.

LAST TIME OUT
The Mountain Lions split their most recent series against Regis University last weekend 2-2, bringing their record to 23-15 overall and 15-9 in the RMAC (tied for fourth). UCCS scored 21 runs on 41 hits in the series with eight doubles. This series was the first series of the season in which the Mountain Lions did not record at least one home run. UCCS now ranks fifth in the RMAC in batting average (.312) and runs scored (290), fourth in hits (380), second in doubles (93), and third in home runs and RBI (47 and 275 respectively).

Individually, Jake Anderson (.355 BA) and Matthew Clarke (.413 BA, fourth in the RMAC) led the way for UCCS against Regis. Anderson led the Mountain Lions with eight hits in the series including one double and tied for second in RBI for the series with three. Those three RBI give him a total of 41 on the season which leads the team and is tied for second in the RMAC. Clarke had the second most hits of the weekend with seven, two of which were doubles, and he led the team in RBI with four. His seven hits and two doubles give him totals of 59 and 15 on the season, both of which rank first and second in the RMAC respectively. Cody Norton (.306 BA), John Mallon (.240 BA) and Walker Rumsey (.265 BA) all contributed offensively as well, with Norton getting five hits, two doubles and three RBI. Mallon and Rumsey both tallied four hits and one RBI, with Rumsey adding a double. Defensively, the Mountain Lion pitching staff finished the series with a combined ERA 4.15. Colin Cicere (3-2) pitched well in a no-decision effort, going five innings and allowing only one run on three hits with three strikeouts for a 1.80 ERA in his start. Christian Manmano (3-0) picked up his third win of the season as he went 5 1/3 innings and allowed two runs (both earned) on three hits. The best performance of the weekend, and of the season goes to Daniel Silva as he earned his seventh win of the season on Sunday (7-1). Silva threw a complete game (nine innings) shutout on Sunday, the first ever for UCCS. He gave up only seven hits and one walk in the game and also had a season high 11 strikeouts.

WEATHER FORECAST
The forecast for Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week shows high temperatures of 56, 68 and 73 degrees for each day respectively. Thursday shows partly cloudy skies and winds of up to 20 miles per hour. Friday forecasts perfect conditions for baseball with clear skies and low wind gusts. Saturday also shows good conditions for baseball with partly cloudy skies and wind gusts of up to 11 miles per hour. For any schedule updates related to weather, stay tuned to gomountainlions.com.

UP NEXT
UCCS will be hosting Colorado School of Mines next weekend (Apr. 26-28) in a four-game series at Mountain Lion Park. The series opener will be on Friday, Apr. 26 at 3 p.m. Saturday, Apr. 25 will feature the usual double-header with games slated to begin at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. respectively. The series finale on Sunday, Apr. 28 will begin at 12 p.m. Following the game on Sunday, there will be a Senior Day celebration to honor the five seniors on the roster for UCCS.