GOLDEN – The Colorado School of Mines baseball team will put its four-game winning streak on the line this weekend as the squad travels to Pueblo for a four-game series against CSU-Pueblo at Rawlings Field beginning on Friday.

Friday's contest will begin at 6 p.m. before the two squads face off in a doubleheader on Saturday with a 1 p.m. start time. The two will close out the series with a 12 p.m. matchup on Sunday. 

The Orediggers got back to .500 in conference play with a four-game sweep over visiting Adams State this past weekend by scores of 11-4, 23-1, 17-7 and 14-5. The conference sweep was the first for an Oredigger squad since the team captured all four games against visiting Colorado Christian on March 20-22, 2008.

It was also just the third by the team in the past 14 years after the 1999 team swept visiting Nebraska-Kearney in a four-game series as well. 

Freshman Nate Olinger batted .556 (10-of-18) over the weekend with a team-high 16 total bases for a .889 slugging percentage and a .550 on-base percentage (1.439 OPS) during the weekend and was named the Mines Student-Athlete of the Week, the Rawlings/RMAC Player of the Week, the NCBWA South Central Region Hitter of the Week and the NCBWA National Hitter of the Week for his efforts.

Olinger becomes the first Oredigger in program history to claim National Hitter of the Week honors with the award after topping seven other regional winners during the NCBWA's voting process. Former Oredigger, Mike Fuller, captured the NCBWA's National Pitcher of the week honors on March 23, 2011.  

Sophomore Zach Bothwell led the team with a .692 batting average and a .800 on-base percentage with a team-best seven walks over the four-game stretch. 

Charlie Basil and Jordan Williams both hit at a .533 clip and senior Bobby Egeberg posted a .526 batting average with 10 runs scored and four stolen bases out of the leadoff spot. 

All four Mines starters got the win in their outings, with junior Eric Shannon (1-1) capturing a win in his first-career start on Friday. Sophomore Ben Gilman (5-2) captured the win in Saturday's opener and senior Blake Dunham (4-1) took the game two victory. True freshman Christian Rooney closed out the weekend with nine strikeouts over seven innings in Mines' 14-5 win in the series finale. 

Williams leads the offense in batting average (.384), RBI (21), slugging percentage (.521) and on-base percentage (.467). 

Olinger tops the squad in total bases (50) and doubles (12) while sitting second on the squad with a .367 batting average. He is also tied for third in the league with two saves as a pitcher. 

Bothwell and Basil close out the Orediggers batting .300 or better with .344 and .340 averages, respectively. 

Gilman leads the squad in wins (five), ERA (2.78), strikeouts (44) and innings pitched (45.1) on the season, with his win, ERA and strikeout marks each sitting in the top five of the conference ranks. 

Rooney sits second on the team with a 3.27 ERA and is third on the team in wins (two) while also leading the team with a .221 opponent's batting average. 

Dunham sits second on the squad in wins (four) and leads the team with 10 total appearances on the season. 

CSUP (16-15, 12-10 RMAC) is currently second in the Mountain Division of the RMAC standings and enters this weekend's series having lost three of four games after facing RMAC leader, Colorado Mesa, last weekend. CMU captured the first two games of the series behind scores of 11-6 and 7-6 before the ThunderWolves took the third game by a score of 12-5. 

CMU closed out the series with a 15-1 victory in game four. 

Scott Hoyt leads the team in batting average (.421), home runs (six), RBI (27), runs (29) and slugging percentage (.675) on the year. 

Jeremiah Struble leads all CSUP starters in ERA (3.38) while Nathan Smith (3.00) and Kevin Megyeri (1.42) lead the bullpen. Struble tops the team in wins (four), innings pitched (56.0) and strikeouts (43). 

CSUP leads the season series 1-0 after posting a 3-2 win over the Orediggers in a nonconference matchup on March 12 in Pueblo. 

Probable Rotations:

Mines:
Ben Gilman, So., RHP, 5-2, 2.78 ERA
Christian Rooney, Fr., RHP, 2-3, 3.27 ERA
Eric Shannon, Jr., RHP, 1-1, 7.80 ERA
Blake Dunham, Sr., RHP, 4-1, 3.71 ERA

CSUP:
Jeremiah Struble, Sr., RHP, 4-2, 3.38 ERA
Lonny Schoon, Jr., RHP, 2-2, 5.44 ERA
Sean Gavin, Sr., RHP, 2-3, 5.71 ERA
Mike Fabrizio, Jr., RHP, 3-2, 6.08 ERA