This Week's Matchup
UCCS Baseball (9-17, 5-7 RMAC) heads into their second non-conference pod series of the season as the Mountain Lions hit the road to Golden, Colo. to take on Colorado School of Mines and New Mexico Highlands University. The series will start on Friday, Apr. 1 with a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. against the Orediggers and ending with NMHU at 7 p.m. UCCS will play the Cowboys again on Saturday at 3 p.m. and end the pod series on Sunday, Apr. 3 with a 2 p.m. game against the Orediggers.
 
Game Coverage
Live Stream: https://www.rmacnetwork.com/gomountainlions/
Live Stats: https://minesathletics.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
 
Last Time Out

• The Mountain Lions finished 1-3 in a home conference series against Metropolitan State University of Denver that included a tough game two loss where UCCS took the Roadrunners into extra innings but fell 14-19.
• UCCS struggled to keep the number two offense in the RMAC at bay through the first three games of the series with game four telling a different story. Starter Jon Sotto and the Mountain Lions kept MSU Denver in check through the first five innings of play as the Roadrunners were held scoreless until the sixth where MSU Denver forced four runs across to tie the game, 4-4.
• Then in the ninth inning, the Roadrunners supplied a solo shot and plated an additional run to make it 6-4 with one last chance hanging in the balance for UCCS.
• Back-to-back base hits from Dylan Morace and Kit Wigington followed by a hit by pitch for Caleb Stubbings quickly loaded the bases for the Mountain Lions and setup an opportunity for UCCS to grab the win with Aaron Faragallah stepping up to the plate. After working a 3-0 count, Faragallah received the green light and powered a moon shot over the batter's eye in dead center for the walk-off grand slam and 8-6 Mountain Lion victory.

 
RMAC Standings

• Holding on in the No. 6 spot is UCCS with Colorado School of Mines ranking fifth at an 18-10 overall record and 7-9 RMAC record.
• MSU Denver (19-11, 10-6 RMAC) and Regis University (16-13-1, 10-6 RMAC) currently sit in third and fourth place, respectively, as Colorado State University Pueblo claims second place at a 17-11 overall record and 11-5 RMAC record.
• Maintaining the top spot in the RMAC is No. 9 Colorado Mesa University with an 18-6 overall record and 9-3 conference record.

 
The Series

• After taking a 3-1 series win from the Cowboys to start conference play earlier this season, the Mountain Lions boast a 21-5 all-time record over NMHU and are currently on a two-game winning streak.
• In a total of 19 games played between CSM and UCCS, the Orediggers hold the 11-8 advantage against the Mountain Lions while UCCS won the most recent matchup in Golden, Colo. last season with a 21-5 victory on May 9, 2021.

 
Scouting Colorado School of Mines

• Colorado School of Mines (18-10, 7-9 RMAC) comes off a series win this past weekend as the Orediggers took three out of four games against Colorado Christian University in Golden, Colo. CCU was able to take a 10-5 win on Saturday but the Orediggers secured a 5-4 win on Sunday to head into the home pod series.
• Formerly ranked as high as No. 13 in the nation earlier this season, the Orediggers pitching staff has been the focal point with an RMAC low 4.80 ERA. At an average of 2.26 walks allowed per nine innings, Mines leads the conference and owns the second lowest average in Division II as they also limit the opposition to 9.81 hits allowed per nine innings for the second lowest average in the RMAC.
• Heading Mines' pitching staff is graduate student Tyler Blomster who has been exceptional for the Orediggers with the fifth lowest ERA in DII at 0.86. Blomster is an undefeated 5-0 in seven appearances and six starts having given up four earned runs in 42 innings pitched. His 42 strikeouts are the fourth most in the league with a WHIP of 0.88 representing an RMAC low.
• Outside of Blomster, Kevin Zapanta paces the team and is tied for the most wins in the RMAC with six as he sits right on the heels of Blomster with 41 strikeouts.
• Oredigger relievers Rodney Gregg, Zachary Kriethe, and Blake Ripp have been the go-to out of the bullpen with each holding sub 4.00 ERA's at 2.25, 3.00, and 3.86, respectively. Both Kriethe (21.0 IP) and Ripp (25.2 IP) have recorded over 20 innings on the mound as Kriethe has held opponents to a team low .167 batting average.
• Offensively, Mines is hitting .286 on the season with Luke Folsom paving the way at a .369 batting average and team high 11 doubles, while also adding three home runs on the year. Folsom joins three other Orediggers with 15 RBI, including Toby Scoles who is hitting .365 and holds a team high eight-game hitting streak.
• Mines' RBI leader is I'Ly Hsue who is one of three Orediggers to start all 28 games as the redshirt-sophomore infielder has bagged 21 RBI and is hitting an even .300 with five doubles, three triples, and three home runs.

 
Scouting New Mexico Highlands

• NMHU (7-21, 5-11 RMAC) was able to grab a pair of wins last weekend to split the series with Regis, 2-2, in Las Vegas, N.M.
• The Cowboys are batting .316 on the season with a slugging percentage of .526 (third in RMAC) through 28 total games. NMHU has also hit 71 doubles on the year which ranks third in the conference and seventh in the nation.
• Brandon Baier and Estevan De La O both rank inside the top-10 in the conference for batting average at .407 (sixth) and .387 (tied for ninth), respectively. Baier has driven in the third most RBI in the RMAC (34) while registering 10 doubles and seven home runs as De La O leads the nation in triples (seven) and paces the team with six stolen bases.  
• Off the bump, the Cowboys are holding a team ERA of 9.00 with southpaw Jadrian Martinez carrying a 9.50 ERA in eight appearances and five starts. Martinez has fanned a team high 27 batters in 34.0 innings pitched and has recorded a 2.06 WHIP with a record of 2-2 on the year.
• In relief, Hunter Vancurler has been the go-to out of the bullpen with 13 total appearances and a 2-2 record. The sophomore has notched one save in 23.1 innings pitched with a WHIP of 1.54.

 
Hot Takes

• UCCS went a flawless 4-0 in the pod series last season with two wins against the Cowboys and two wins against the Orediggers at home.
• The Mountain Lions are hovering above .300 in batting average at .306 with 14 games of recording double-digit hits.
• There have been only three games this season where the Mountain Lions have not registered at least one double. In total, UCCS has recorded 76 doubles for the second most in the RMAC and fourth most in Division II. But the Mountain Lions maintain the conference lead in doubles per game at 2.92 which also ranks as the third most in the country.
• Redshirt junior Kiichi Sato continues to lead the team in batting average at .387 and is tied for the ninth best average in the conference with NMHU's Estevan De La O. Sato has been an impressive gap-to-gap hitter with the RMAC's second most doubles (12) and highest doubles per game average (0.50) as he has three games with two doubles.
• Pacing the Mountain Lions in hits, home runs, and RBI is redshirt freshman Caleb Stubbings with 32 hits, seven home runs, and 28 RBI. In his 25 games played and started, Stubbings has only gone six games without a hit and has a team leading eight multi-RBI games.
• Aaron Faragallah bumps up to a .348 batting average after swinging a big stick that hit .500 with seven RBI in three games, including a walk-off grand slam in game four of last weekend's series. Faragallah had multi-hit games in all three games he played in as he hit two doubles and tallied a home run in each game (3) for a slugging percentage of 1.286.
• Reliever Joseph Harris notched his second win of the season to move to 2-1 after going one full inning where he allowed one run on three hits against MSU Denver on Sunday.
• Jonathan Cowles holds on to a 3-3 record where he has struckout a team high 33 batters while allowing juts four walks on the season to post a 0.98 walks allowed per nine innings average that ranks as the lowest in the conference.
• Junior Jon Sotto has made three starts this season with the Mountain Lions winning each of those three games. Sotto has also worked his way to the team's lowest ERA (5.95) in 19.2 innings of work.
• Tyler Richardson and Stubbings currently have the longest active streak of reaching base safely with Richardson on an 11-game streak and Stubbings on a seven-game streak.

 
UCCS Under Head Coach Dave Hajek

• Dave Hajek, who led UCCS to its first RMAC championship in program history, is in his sixth season as the Head Coach of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs baseball program in 2022. He's coached the only MLB Draft pick in Zach Hall and the only All-Americans in Matt McDermott, Matt Clarke, Jake Anderson, and Evan Richards.
• In six seasons, Hajek holds a .544 winning percentage with a 123-106 overall record that includes, four RMAC Tournament appearances, one RMAC Tournament Championship, a 5-7 RMAC Tournament record, and one NCAA Tournament appearance.

 
Upcoming Games

• The Mountain Lions will stay on the road next weekend as they visit Regis University for a four-game conference series starting on Friday, Apr. 8 at 3 p.m. in Denver, Colo.

 
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 16 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.