#28 Mines (32-11, 23-9 RMAC) vs. MSU Denver (27-18, 19-13 RMAC) – Friday (DH) 3 p.m. [Live Stats] [Live Video]
#28 Mines (32-11, 23-9 RMAC) vs. MSU Denver (27-18, 19-13 RMAC) – Saturday (DH), 12 p.m. [Live Stats] [Live Video]
 

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ON THE RMAC NETWORK
Just like every other home and RMAC weekend, all four games of the regular-season finale will be available live and for free on the RMAC Network at www.minesathletics.com/tv. The voice of the Orediggers, Michael Tanner, will be featured in Saturday's doubleheader. Tanner pitched for the Orediggers from 2013-17. The RMAC Network can also be found on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and Android TV devices by going to the app store and searching "RMAC".
 
WEEKEND RUNDOWN
For the third time in the last four years, the Colorado School of Mines Baseball team will host the final series of the regular season at Jim Darden Field. The Orediggers opponent is MSU Denver, and seeding for the RMAC Tournament is what's on the line. Only five games separate the top four teams and with four games to play, three teams are still mathematically in contention for the conference title. The weekend format features two doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday with a nine-inning game to start followed by a seven-inning affair on both days. Last, but certainly not least, Mines will celebrate Senior Day as the Orediggers highlight nine individuals who have put together an incredible body of work over the last four years. Any way you cut it, this weekend should be chalk full of emotion, excitement and really good baseball.
 
WEATHER REPORT
It's about to be a nearly perfect weekend for baseball. Despite the rain and snow that fell on Golden Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Friday's forecast gives way to clear, sunny skies and high near 70 degrees. With a light breeze up to seven miles per hour and no chance for precipitation, the series-opening doubleheader should be a beautiful evening under the lights. Senior Day festivities will be held under partly cloudy skies with temperatures again nearing 70 degrees. Windy, humidity and chance for rain all appear nearly identical to that of Friday. A light jacket and some sunscreen should be all fans need to enjoy this final weekend of the regular season.
 
THE WEEKEND THAT WAS
Last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Orediggers took on UCCS in Colorado Springs. Mines finished the weekend 3-1 against the Mountain Lions thanks to a 21-15 win in game one, a 3-2 victory in game three and an 11-10 nail-biter in the series finale. UCCS claimed its lone win of the weekend in game two of the series and the opener of Saturday's doubleheader by a score of 3-1. Overall, Walter Pennington and Tyler Blomster both tossed complete games on the mound. Pennington wore the loss while Blomster got the victory and broke Mines' all-time wins record. Nick Gardner accounted for the Orediggers' third win with his relief appearance in Friday's opener. At the plate, Trevor Kehe led the team with four home runs, seven hits and 11 RBI in just two games. Noah Kuzma made one start and went 5-for-5 with four runs and three RBI on two doubles and a dinger.
 
SCOUTING MSU DENVER
At one point this season, MSU Denver was the #1 team in the RMAC. However, the Roadrunners make the trip to Golden on a four-game skid and a record of 2-8 over their last 10 games. Despite the losing streak, MSU Denver has clinched a spot in the conference tournament and is currently tied for #4 in the league standings. Matt Malkin is the Roadrunners leader at the plate and a leading candidate for RMAC Player of the Year. Malkin is currently hitting .425 with 47 runs and 66 RBI on 24 home runs, one triple and 12 doubles. He leads all of NCAA Division II in total home runs, home runs per game, RBI per game, and total bases. Malkin is a NCAA Division I transfer from the University of Alabama. On the mound, utility man Logan Soole serves as MSU Denver's pitching ace. In addition to playing in the field, Soole also boasts a 2.27 ERA behind a 5-2 record with two complete games and 47 strikeouts in 43.2 innings of work. As a team, the Roadrunners rank #3 in DII in slugging percentage, #4 in home runs and home runs per game, and #5 in total triples.
 
CUCKOOS FROM DENVER
MSU Denver's nickname for its athletics teams is the Roadrunners, which are a slender fast-running bird of the cuckoo family. Appropriately named, as it is a bird found chiefly in arid country. While the Roadrunner name has remained consistent, the institutional name has not. Originally founded as an "opportunity school" named Metropolitan State College of Denver, the administration looked to change the name to Denver State University in 2011. This was quickly quashed by privately run University of Denver and the board of trustees settled on Metropolitan State University of Denver, now self-branded as MSU Denver.
 
HISTORIC JIM DARDEN FIELD
Jim Darden Field, or Darden Field, is located in the heart of the Clear Creek Athletics Complex and provides one of the most beautiful settings in the world for baseball. The fully-lit stadium has seating accommodations for 500 spectators with commanding 360-degree views of Golden and North Table Mountain behind the outfield fence and Mount Zion and Clear Creek Canyon rising behind the third-base line. Named in honor of longtime Mines coach Jim Darden, the stadium was originally built in 1937 as a Depression-era project of the Public Works Administration. The ampitheater-style seating is built of fieldstone with flagstone bench seating carved into the hillside. Substantial renovations in 2007 restored the original historic seating bowl, added a new press box and dugouts, and saw a new scoreboard built in right field.
 
RECENT HISTORY
Since 2016, when the Oredigger senior class was in its freshman year, Mines is 14-4 in the ongoing series against MSU Denver. Three of those wins have come in the RMAC Tournament while the Orediggers boast a 6-1 record against the Roadrunners at Jim Darden Field over that same time. The two teams' most recent meeting was the opening round of the 2018 RMAC Tournament. Mikey Gangwish gave the Orediggers the first-round win thanks to a three-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 7-5 win. The 2018 regular season matchup was played in Denver. Mines went 3-1 in the four-game series as Joe Popp batted .438 with seven runs and three RBI on two doubles. Additionally, Trevor Kehe, Walter Pennington and John Howard all batted .400 or better and combined for 12 runs and 15 RBI with six doubles and two home runs. Tyler Blomster and Walter Pennington combined to go 2-0 while giving up just one earned run and striking out 12 batters.
 
2019 SENIOR CLASS
This weekend, the Orediggers celebrate their 2019 senior class, made up of Daniel Ciraula, Mikey Gangwish, Jace Selsor, John Howard, Joe Popp, Owen Pigati, Colin Morris, Phil VanZale and Ben Stinson. These nine Orediggers represent the winningest senior class in program history with an overall record of 130-66 behind three consecutive 30-win seasons – a program best. The records broken by the 2019 seniors are too many to count but do include most wins in a season, most home runs in a season, most runs in a season and the first NCAA Tournament appearance in the history of the program. Overall, the senior class has combined for a .325 batting average, scoring 596 runs on 850 hits and 551 RBI on 168 doubles, 20 triples and 95 home runs. In rough numbers, that accounts for about 40 percent of Mines' offense over the last four seasons. Within that group are all-time home run and RBI leader Mikey Gangwish with all-time hits and total bases leader Jace Selsor. The two pitchers of the group have racked up 187.1 innings of work in 46 appearances with 90 strikeouts and six wins. To be honest, a book could be written about this senior class, but we'll leave it with those tidbits for now.
 
TOPS IN THE NATION
Over the last two seasons, Mines has established itself as one of top slugging teams in all of NCAA Division II. Once again, the Orediggers have returned to the #1 spot in the nation in 2019 in slugging percentage and #2 in home runs per game. Mines is hitting for extra bases at a clip of .572 while averaging 1.65 bombs per contest. Additionally, the Orediggers are currently #1 in all of DII in doubles per game, #5 in total home runs #11 in total doubles and batting average, and #13 in scoring.  Interestingly enough, Mines doesn't even lead the RMAC with its 8.5 runs per game and the national leader is Angelo State – the Orediggers' season-opening foe. The Rams are putting up 10.0 runs per game and sit #1 in the South Central Region and in the nation. Mines took two out of four games in San Angelo, Texas.
 
KEHE VS. MALKIN
The regular-season finale will feature two of the top players in the RMAC in Mines' centerfielder Trevor Kehe and MSU Denver's catcher Matt Malkin. While there are certainly other candidates for the league's top honor, these two are certainly the frontrunners. On the season, Malkin leads the head-to-head battle in batting average at .425, home runs with 24 and RBI with 66. However, Kehe is batting .410 and has more runs with 61, more doubles at 13 and more stolen bases with 23. In fact, Kehe has scored 14 more runs on just four fewer hits. Additionally, the redshirt senior has only 16 less RBI on 10 fewer home runs and gets on base at a clip of .503 compared to .475 for Malkin. Furthermore, over the last 10 games, Kehe dominates the numbers. He has batted .514 with 14 runs on 18 hits including four doubles, one triple and eight home runs with 21 RBI. Meanwhile, over that same span, Malkin is hitting .351 scoring nine runs on 13 hits with just two doubles, one triple and four home runs while driving in 10. The voters (coaches) shall decide, but we're hoping they take into account more than just home runs.
 
TAKING NAMES AND SLAYING RECORDS
As of May 2, the 2019 Colorado School of Mines Baseball team had broken or tied 18 different program records ranging from career to single-game marks. In comparison, the 2018 Orediggers broke or tied 15 program marks. Among the fallen records are career home runs (Mikey Gangwish), career RBI (Mikey Gangwish), career hits (Jace Selsor), career total bases (Jace Selsor), career at-bats (Jace Selsor), career wins (Tyler Blomster), single-season strikeouts (Drew Hill), the longest winning streak in program history and numerous single-game marks. With four games remaining in the regular season and at least two games in the RMAC Tournament, additional records are in danger as well. We invite you to stay tuned all the way to the finish with this record-setting squad.
 
2019 RMAC TOURNAMENT
While there are still four games remaining the regular season, the field for the 2019 RMAC Tournament has been set. Colorado Mesa, Dixie State, MSU Denver, UCCS, CSU-Pueblo and Mines have all punched their tickets to the conference postseason. Mines is currently alone at #2 in the league standings, just three games back of #1 Colorado Mesa. However, Mesa owns the tiebreaker over the Orediggers so the Mavericks would need to lose all four and Mines would need to win all four of the remaining contests. Overall, only five games separate the top four teams so seeding is still very much up in the air. Adding more drama to the situation is the fact that all six tournament teams face off against each other this weekend. Dixie State travels to Grand Junction to face CMU. CSU-Pueblo hosts UCCS and of course Mines hosts MSU Denver. If the season ended today, the RMAC Tournament would be played in Grand Junction, Colo., with Mesa hosting sixth-seeded CSU-Pueblo. Mines would be the #2 seed facing MSU Denver and Dixie State would be the #3 seed playing #4 UCCS.
 
NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS
Mines moved up to #4 in latest NCAA South Central Regional rankings released on Wednesday afternoon. The Orediggers originally debuted at #5 just over a week ago. However, three wins on the road at UCCS pushed Mines past now #5 West Texas A&M which was idle last weekend. Angelo State is the top seed in the region while Colorado Mesa sits #2. Lubbock Christian is #3 with Dixie State rounding out the projected NCAA Tournament field at #6. There will be one more regional ranking released May 8 before the official selection show May 13. The top six teams in the final regional rankings on May 13 will earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament. In 2019, a new format will debut which features a pair of three-team regionals hosted by the #1 and #2 seeds in the South Central May 16-18. Weekend two will be a best-of-three series between the previous weekend's winners at the highest remaining seed. The winner of said super regional will earn the South Central's berth in the 2019 NCAA Division II College World Series.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
No matter what happens over the next five days, Mines will open the 2019 RMAC Tournament on Wednesday, May 8. Location, seeding and game times will be announced following the last game of the weekend at www.minesathletics.com. Additionally, live stats and video of all RMAC Tournament games will be available at www.minesathletics.com.