Mines vs. Dixie State, Saturday, 12 p.m./2 p.m. [Live Stats]
Mines vs. Dixie State, Sunday, 11 a.m./1 p.m. [Live Stats]
at Regis University
 

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THIS WEEKEND
In a key series in the RMAC standings, Colorado School of Mines (11-10, 10-3 RMAC) meets Dixie State (18-5, 12-4 RMAC) at Regis University's field for a four-game set. Both teams are coming off series sweeps last weekend as the Orediggers took a pod against Chadron State and Adams State, while DSU took four from UCCS. Live stats will be available for all games on minesathletics.com and in-game updates available on Twitter at @minessoftball; the games will not be streamed on the RMAC Network due to the site change. Admission is free for all four games, and weekend parking at Regis is also free.

LAST WEEKEND
Mines convincingly beat both Chadron State and Adams State twice last weekend, beating CSC by scores of 7-3 and 12-0 (5 inn.) and ASU 10-0 (5 inn.) and 72. Mines turned in an offensive showcase hitting .406 and slugging .535 as a team for the weekend, while the pitching duo of Sydney Marchando and Claire Stringfellow held opponents to .167 with a 1.50 ERA. Stringfellow pitched both five-inning shutouts. Katie Leiker was 6-for-11 (.545) and scored seven runs while Clara Larson slugged 1.000 and Kendall Murphy .818; Kara Jones drove in a team-high 9 RBI.

EARLY RMAC LOOK
A month into the conference season, Mines is well-positioned in third place (10-3 in the RMAC) with Colorado Christian first at 9-2 and Colorado Mesa second at 13-3. Dixie State is battling in fourth at 12-4, making this weekend's series a chance for either Mines or DSU to cement a top-four spot.

JONES BUSTS OUT
Mines' leader at the plate last weekend was cleanup hitter Kara Jones as she drove in 9 RBI hitting .538 for the pod series. Her top games were both against Chadron State as she drove in four runs in the opener, then went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored in the finale. Since missing the first two weeks of the season due to injury, Jones has played in the last 14 games and is hitting a team-best .405 with 12 RBI, 10 runs scored, and three doubles.

GETTING IT STARTED
Freshman rightfielder Kendall Murphy is having a terrific rookie season so far, hitting .388 and slugging a team-best .597. She's also riding a remarkable streak - the leadoff hitter has reached base in all 20 games she has played in to start her career, and has a hit in 19 of those 20. Murphy's .468 on-base percentage is also a team high and she has scored a Mines-best 19 runs as a result. She is also fourth in the RMAC with 11 doubles, and has driven in 15 runs this season.

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE
Mines drew a remarkable 31 walks over four games last weekend, including a program-record 15 in Saturday's game against Chadron State; that total was just one shy of the RMAC record for walks in a game that has stood since 1990. This season the Orediggers have been getting free passes at a terrific clip, averaging 3.5 walks per game (compared to 2.9 last year) as Clara Larson (11), Katie Leiker (11), and Kendall Murphy (10) all have double-digit totals out of the first three slots in the order.

SUPER SUB
Senior Loren Dempsey missed nearly a month and a half of the season due to injury before returning for her first at-bat of 2019 against Colorado Mesa on March 10. Dempsey was on a tear last weekend in a pinch-hitter role, generating RBI in all three of her plate appearances including a two-run single against Adams State on Saturday, and sacrifice flies in both games on Sunday. In just four plate appearances this season – all pinch-hit situations – Dempsey has driven in four runs going 2-for-4.

IN THE CIRCLE
The starting duo of Sydney Marchando and Claire Stringfellow continue to eat up the majority of innings for Mines as Marchando is 7-3 with a 2.83 ERA in 66.2 IP, and Stringfellow is 4-5 with a 2.36 ERA in 56.1 IP. They have helped Mines notch the third-best staff ERA in the RMAC (2.86).

FLASHING THE LEATHER
A year after finishing eighth in the RMAC in team fielding percentage at .944, Mines is the league's most improved defensive team in 2019, currently second at .966. The Orediggers have committed just 20 errors in 590 chances.

ON A ROLL
Heading into this weekend, Murphy's on-base streak is one of four 10+ game streaks currently held by Orediggers, joined by Clara Larson (14), Kara Jones (13), and Boston Ludlow (12). Murphy is also on a nine-game hitting streak while Larson has hit in seven straight.

MINES NOTABLES
Mines has yet to play an RMAC game at its originally-scheduled site – home or away – due to weather and construction … This weekend's series pits two of the RMAC's three best pitching staffs against each other with league-leading Dixie State (2.50 ERA) and third-place Mines (2.86) … Mines has four active players with 100+ hits: Katie Leiker (160), Clara Larson (151), Kara Jones (145), and Boston Ludlow (107) … Larson continues to approach the Mines career home run record as she now has 27; Kaleigh Staff hit 34 between 2007 and 2010 … Last weekend, Larson surpassed Molly Thiebaut (2010-13) for fifth on the Mines career RBI list with 128 … Larson also scored her 100th career run during last week's series … Leiker is now sixth all-time at Mines in stolen bases after swiping her 34th last weekend … Jones is sixth all-time at Mines in doubles with 41 … Freshman Claire Smith drove in her first career RBI last weekend against Chadron State … Both Claire Stringfellow (5th) and Sydney Marchando (9th) rank in the RMAC top-10 in ERA … Marchando is also fourth in strikeouts at 61 and wins at 7 … Mines pitchers are holding opposing batters to just .254 this season and their five home runs allowed are second-fewest in the RMAC.