St. Mary's University Classic (San Antonio, Texas)

Mines vs. #14 Tarleton State, Friday, 4:45 p.m. CT
Mines at St. Mary's, Saturday, 4:45 p.m. CT [Live Stats] [Live Video]
Mines vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville, Saturday, 7 p.m. CT
Mines vs. #9 Texas A&M-Commerce, Sunday, 12:15 p.m. CT [Live Stats] [Live Video]
Mines vs. St. Edward's, Sunday, 2:30 p.m. CT [Live Stats]
 

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BACK TO THE LONE STAR STATE
Coming off the season-opening Arkansas Tech Winter Invitational outside Houston last week, Colorado School of Mines heads back to Texas to play five games in the St. Mary's University Classic in San Antonio this weekend. Three of Mines' five opponents will be rematches from last weekend as they play #14 Tarleton State, Texas A&M-Kingsville, and #9 Texas A&M-Commerce again, while adding the host Rattlers and St. Edward's to the mix. Live stats will be available for the St. Mary's, Commerce, and St. Edward's games only, while video is also available for the St. Mary's and Commerce games.

LAST WEEKEND
Mines suffered an 0-5 start to the season against some tough competition but hung tough at the Arkansas Tech Winter Invitational at the Scrapyard Sports complex. Mines stayed with #14 Tarleton State until the end in a 3-1 loss, then took Texas A&M International into extras before falling 4-2 in nine innings. Cameron won 3-0, while one big inning sparked a 6-2 Texas A&M-Kingsville setback before Mines fell 9-1 to a big-hitting #9 Texas A&M-Commerce team in the finale.

LARSON SHORTLISTED FOR NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD
On Thursday, junior shortstop Clara Larson was one of 50 players named to the watch list for the Schutt Sports/NFCA D-II National Player of the Year award, the first player in Mines history to make the list. As a sophomore, Larson earned NFCA First Team and D2CCA Second-Team All-America honors after hitting .425 and slugging .839 with 15 home runs, a program-record 64 RBI, 21 doubles, and 59 runs scored. The 2019 RMAC Preseason Player of the Year earned a bevy of postseason awards including Google Cloud/CoSIDA Second-Team Academic All-America, First-Team All-RMAC, and NFCA and D2CCA First-Team All-South Central.

SYD THE KYD
A bright spot for Mines last week was the performance of sophomore pitcher Sydney Marchando in the circle. In three appearances and one start, Marchando notched a 1.83 ERA with 19 strikeouts across 15.1 innings, including tying her career high with eight K's in four innings against Tarleton State and seven in six innings vs. Cameron. Marchando did not surrender a run against nationally-ranked Tarleton State, and allowed only one earned with a single walk through her first 10.0 innings of work.

NOBODY LEIKER
Senior Katie Leiker had a great tournament last weekend, leading Mines with a .438 average and 1.050 OPS at the plate. Leiker went 7-for-16 with a double, two walks, and two hit-by-pitch to generate a .550 on-base percentage. It was also notable that Leiker made her outfield debut for Mines after spending her career playing either shortstop or second base; she moved to take over the vacancy left by the graduated Sonoma Toot and recorded 11 putouts in 11 tries.

LEADING OFF
Mines handed the lead-off spot on opening day to true freshman Kendall Murphy, who started in right field in four games over the tournament. Murphy delivered a single in the first at-bat of her career, and went on to have a great debut weekend hitting .400 with six hits, a double, and a team-best two RBI.

JONES PICKED FOR PRESEASON ALL-RMAC TEAM
Kara Jones was selected to the Preseason All-RMAC team in the utility spot as she heads into her senior season. Jones split her time between catcher, first base, and designated player last season and hit .388 with a .517 slugging percentage and .459 on-base percentage. Jones drove in 30 runs with a home run and 16 doubles, and walked 15 times. Defensively she turned in a .981 fielding percentage.

MINES PICKED SIXTH IN RMAC POLL
Mines was chosen sixth in the RMAC preseason coaches' poll coming off three consecutive RMAC Tournament appearances. New RMAC member Dixie State was picked first just ahead of defending champion Colorado Mesa as the two split first-place votes; Colorado Christian, Regis, and MSU Denver rounded out the top five ahead of Mines.

MINES NOTABLES
Boston Ludlow is three hits away from 100 for her career ... Katie Leiker is Mines' active hits leader at 147 ... Clara Larson is Mines' active leader in career RBI (109) and home runs (25) ... Larson is second all-time at Mines in homers, chasing Kaleigh Starr's record of 34 ... Kara Jones ranks ninth all-time at Mines in doubles with 38 … Mines had five players making first-time starts at their positions last weekend: Leiker (CF), Murphy (RF), Sam Wade (C and DP), Stefanie Brunello (3B), and Hana Mawlawi (2B) … Mawlawi, Murphy, and Wade all made their first career starts, while Leiker moved from second base and Brunello from right field … Wade collected her first career hit against Tarleton State.

LOOKING AHEAD
Mines will return home to Colorado to face Montana State Billings on Sunday, Feb. 17 for two games. The doubleheader will be played at MSU Denver.