THIS WEEK
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball team will be hosting Colorado School of Mines (CSM) in a four-game series beginning Friday, Apr. 26 at 3 p.m. Saturday, Apr. 27 will feature a double header with games scheduled for 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. The series finale will be on Sunday, Apr. 28 at 12 p.m. Following the series finale on Sunday, there will be a Senior Day celebration to honor the five seniors on the roster for UCCS.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
In their brief history, UCCS owns a record of 3-5 against CSM. In those eight games, the Mountain Lions have scored 51 runs on 83 hits including 15 doubles, two triples and eight home runs. The best season performance for the Mountain Lions came in their inaugural season when they split the series 2-2 with the Orediggers. In that series, UCCS scored 31 runs on 49 hits, with 11 doubles and five home runs. Last season, the Mountain did not fare as well against CSM, going 1-3 in four games. 

SCOUTING THE OREDIGGERS
Colorado School of Mines currently has a record of 29-10 this season, which includes a 20-8 record in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC). That record gives them a firm grasp of second place in the RMAC and also ranks fourth in the South-Central Region in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll. As a team, the Orediggers rank in the top five of the RMAC in batting average (.324, third), runs scored (328, fourth), doubles (102, third), home runs (61, second) and RBI (301, fifth). They also rank sixth in hits with 412 and first in slugging percentage at .564. Individually, CSM is led by juniors Trevor Kehe and Derek Daly, and seniors Joe Popp and Jace Selsor. Kehe leads the team in batting average (.396, eighth in the RMAC), hits (57, tied for sixth in the RMAC), runs scored (57, first in the RMAC), and is tied with Daly for the team lead in RBI with 39 (tied for seventh in the RMAC). He also has 10 home runs (tied for sixth in the RMAC) and 12 doubles this season. Daly is hitting .324 this year with six doubles but owns the second highest home run total in the RMAC with 14. Popp ranks second on the team in batting average (.377) and hits (55), but is tied for the team lead in doubles with Selsor (15, tied for third in the RMAC). He also has four home runs and 27 RBI this season. Selsor ranks third on the team in batting average and hits (.362 and 54 respectively), has 15 doubles, eight home runs and 37 RBI (ninth in the RMAC). Defensively, Walter Pennington (7-2), Tyler Blomster (7-2) and Drew Hill (5-2) lead the CSM pitching staff. Pennington has started 10 games this year and has allowed 30 runs (23 earned) on 62 hits with 68 strikeouts (sixth in the RMAC), earning him a team best 3.15 ERA. Blomster has appeared in 10 games this year (nine starts) and has given up 35 runs (32 earned) on 69 hits with 65 strikeouts (seventh in the RMAC) for his 4.72 ERA. Hill has also started 10 games this season and has allowed 28 runs (26 earned) on 39 hits and has a team high 82 strikeouts (second in the RMAC). 

LAST TIME OUT
The Mountain Lions took three of the four games against Metropolitan State University Denver last weekend, bringing their record this season to 26-16 overall and 18-10 in the RMAC. UCCS' conference record is tied for the fourth best in the RMAC as they currently sit in the fifth spot overall. In the series, UCCS scored 31 runs on 49 hits including 14 doubles, five triples and three home runs. Those stats bring the Mountain Lions' season totals to 425 hits (fourth in the RMAC), 107 doubles (first in the RMAC), 12 triples (fourth in the RMAC), 50 home runs (third in the RMAC), 302 RBI (fourth in the RMAC) and a .316 team batting average (fifth in the RMAC). 

Individually, Jake Anderson (.366 BA) and Matt Berg (.342 BA) led the way for the Mountain Lions offensively with eight hits each. Anderson recorded a 'series cycle' as he had one double, one triple and one home run in the series. He also drove in six runs which was the second most on the team. Those numbers give him 56 hits and 47 RBI this season, which rank ninth and third in the RMAC respectively. Berg tallied two doubles and one triple in the series to go along with four RBI. Matthew Clarke (.403 BA, fifth in the RMAC) and Cody Norton (.322 BA) each had good weekends at the plate as well, tallying seven and six hits respectively. Clarke had a team high three doubles to go along with one triple and three RBI in the series. His seven hits and three doubles give him 64 and 18 this season respectively, both of which rank second and first in the RMAC respectively. Norton's contribution consisted of two doubles, one home run and three RBI. The two doubles give him 14 this year which is tied for the seventh most in the RMAC. Ryan Schmidt (.345 BA), Matt McDermott (.362 BA) and Evan Richards (.317 BA) all added five hits to the team total in the series, with Schmidt tallying two doubles and one home run for his team high seven RBI. Defensively, Jonathan Cowles (4-7), Christian Manmano (4-0) and Colin Cicere (4-2) all picked up wins over the weekend. Cowles got the honor of starting the game at Security Service Field, and delivered a quality performance as he allowed five runs (all earned) on six hits with seven strikeouts in eight innings. Manmano went five innings in his start as he gave up four runs (all earned) off of six hits with three strikeouts. Joe Slocum earned his second save of the season in the game. However, the best performance of the weekend belongs to Cicere. 

RMAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
For his impressive performance, Colin Cicere was named the RMAC Pitcher of the Week (4/23). In game two of the series against Metropolitan State University Denver, Cicere went the distance on the mound as he recorded a complete game shutout to help secure an 8-0 win over the Roadrunners. The Colorado native made quick work of MSU Denver by only allowing three hits and two walks, on his way to bagging five strikeouts.
 
WEATHER FORECAST
The forecast for this weekend shows high temperatures of 73, 75 and 76 degrees for Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively. Friday shows a 40 percent chance for rain in the afternoon and winds of up to 10 miles per hour. Saturday and Sunday both predict partly cloudy skies with wind gusts of up to 12 miles per hour on Saturday and 14 mile per hour on Sunday. For any updates related to weather, stay tuned to gomountainlions.com.

UP NEXT
UCCS will be traveling to Pueblo, Colo. to take on Colorado State University – Pueblo in a four-game series for their final regular season matchup before the RMAC Tournament. The games are scheduled for Thursday-Saturday, with a double header taking place on Saturday. Thursday, May 2 features a game at 6 p.m. The game on Friday, May 3 is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. The double header on Saturday, May 4 features games at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.