THIS WEEK
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball team will be traveling to Denver this week as they get set to take on Regis University in a four-game series beginning Friday, Apr. 12 at 3 p.m. Saturday, Apr. 13 will feature the usual double-header with games slated for 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. The series finale on Sunday, Apr. 14 will take place at 12 p.m. 

HEAD-TO-HEAD
The Mountain Lions have an all-time record of 10-4 against the Rangers, including a 1-1 record in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament. UCCS' best season performance against Regis came last season as they went 5-1 in the regular season and added one more win in the RMAC Tournament. In those seven games, the Mountain Lions scored 56 runs on 88 hits, including 18 doubles, four triples, and 10 home runs. The best single game last season for the Mountain Lions against Regis came in a 16-9 victory, a game in which they tallied 16 hits including three doubles, three triples, and two home runs.

SCOUTING THE RANGERS
Regis currently sports a record of 10-23 on the season, which includes a 5-15 record in the RMAC. Their best conference performance came against Colorado School of Mines as they split the series with the Orediggers 2-2. In that series, the Rangers scored 17 runs on 31 hits including two doubles, one triple and four home runs. As a team so far this season, Regis ranks eighth in the RMAC in batting average (.280), hits (290), doubles (60), home runs (16) and RBI (147). They also rank last in runs scored (162) and sixth in triples with nine. Individually, the Rangers are led by senior Connor Rochon and junior Coby Zimmerman. Rochon leads the team in batting average (.408, seventh in the RMAC), runs scored (25) hits (49, tied for fourth in the RMAC), doubles (14, tied for second in the RMAC) and home runs (four). He is also second on the team in RBI with 25. Zimmerman has a batting average of .291, good enough for third on the team. He also ranks second on the team in hits (34) and doubles (11, tied for ninth in the RMAC), is tied with Rochon for the team lead in home runs with four, and leads the team in RBI with 29. Defensively, Brayden Brooks (3-1) and Tyce O'Neill lead the pitching staff for Regis, with Brooks leading the starting rotation and O'Neill leading the relivers. Brooks, a freshman, has started all six of his appearances this season and has allowed 13 runs (12 earned) on 32 hits and has a team high 23 strikeouts, awarding him a 3.60 ERA. O'Neill, a junior, has not started a game this season but has appeared in 14 games this year. He has allowed nine runs (six earned) on 16 hits with nine strikeouts, awarding him a team best 3.24 ERA this year.

LAST TIME OUT
The Mountain Lions took three of the for games played last weekend against Adams State University, giving them a 21-13 overall record this year and a 13-7 record in the RMAC (ranks fifth). In the series, UCCS scored 42 runs on 45 hits, including 15 doubles and eight home runs. Fourteen different Mountain Lions had at least one hit in the series. The best game of the series for UCCS came on Sunday with a 17-3 route of Adams State, which is the third most runs ever scored in single game in program history. In that game, the Mountain Lions had 19 hits (second most hits in a single game in program history), including 10 doubles (most in a single game in program history) and one home run. Those totals bring the Mountain Lions' season stats to 269 runs scored (fourth in the RMAC), 339 hits (fourth in the RMAC), 85 doubles (third in the RMAC), 47 home runs (third in the RMAC), 255 RBI (third in the RMAC), and a team batting average of .310 (seventh in the RMAC).

Individually, Matt Berg (.323 BA) and Ryan Schmidt (.353 BA) led the Mountain Lions offensively. Berg led the team in hits for the series with seven, including two doubles (both came in a 3-for-3 game on Friday), one home run and three RBI. Schmidt had the second most hits for UCCS in the series with six even though he only played in two of the four games. Schmidt tallied two doubles, two home runs and 10 RBI. His first home run of the series on Saturday was in fact a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning of game two, propelling UCCS to a late inning victory. Evan Richards (.333 BA) and Matthew Clarke (.409 BA, sixth in the RMAC) both performed well at the plate in the series as well as they each recorded five hits. Richards had two doubles, one home run and six RBI in the series, which was the second most on the team behind Schmidt. Those numbers bring his season totals to 13 home runs and 39 RBI, both of which rank third in the RMAC. Clarke's five hits consisted of one double and one home run to go along with three RBI. The five hits give Clarke 52 for the season which is the second most in the RMAC, and the double gives him 13 on the year which ranks sixth in the RMAC. Other notable performances for UCCS came from Walker Rumsey (.246 BA) and Cody Norton (.298 BA) as they each recorded four hits and five RBI in the series. Rumsey's four hits included two doubles and one home run while Norton also tallied a double in the series.

Defensively, three Mountain Lion pitchers improved their records as Jonathan Cowles (3-6), Christian Manmano (2-0) and Daniel Silva (6-1) all recorded wins over the weekend. Cowles did not have his best outing of the year, giving up seven runs (all earned) on 10 hits, but earned the win thanks to some help from the Mountain Lion offense. Manmano threw the first complete game (seven innings) for UCCS this season in his start, allowing only three runs (all earned) on six hits with a team high six strikeouts. He would end his day with an ERA of 3.86. The best performance of the weekend goes to Silva as he allowed only one run, for the third game this season, on four hits with two strikeouts in route to his sixth win of the year (tied for third most in the RMAC).

WEATHER FORECAST
The forecast for this weekend in Denver shows high temperatures of 46, 51 and 66 degrees for Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively. Mostly cloudy conditions can be expected all weekend, as can low chances for rain/snow. Winds are expected to gust up to 11 miles per hour on Friday and eight miles per hour on both Saturday and Sunday. For any updates to the schedule related to weather, stay tuned to gomountainlions.com.

UP NEXT
UCCS will be hosting Metropolitan State University Denver in a special four-game series next weekend. Due to the holiday weekend, the schedule will be a little different for this series. The first game of the series will be on Thursday, Apr. 18 at 12 p.m. at Security Service Field. The double header, which usually takes place on Saturday, will be on Friday, Apr. 19 at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. at Mountain Lion Park. The series finale will be on Saturday, Apr. 20 at 12 p.m., also at Mountain Lion Park.