Mines at UCCS, Friday, 11 a.m./1 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
Mines at UCCS, Saturday, 11 a.m./1 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
 

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A CHANGE OF PLANS
RMAC play opens this weekend as Mines (3-6) takes on UCCS (4-7), but with significant changes to the originally-scheduled series. Slated to be at Mines on Saturday-Sunday, the series will instead be played at UCCS' field on Friday-Saturday, with 11 a.m. starts each day. The change was necessitated by snow in Golden overnight Wednesday, and the forecast for snow at both sites on Sunday. Admission will be free for all games; despite playing at UCCS, Mines will be the home team in all games.

FOLLOW ONLINE
This weekend's games can be seen live and for free on the RMAC Network at www.minesathletics.com/tv. 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". Fans can also follow @minessoftball on Twitter for live in-game updates.

LAST WEEKEND
Mines tested itself against #1 Augustana and despite taking two losses, had positives against the defending national champions. In game 1, Sydney Marchando carried a no-hitter into the fourth before the Vikings did all their scoring in the fourth and sixth innings of a 5-0 loss; in the afternoon, Augustana won 9-3 but Mines took a tie game into the fifth on Renata Boyd's two-run triple and a Clara Larson RBI grounder.

IN THE PRESEASON POLL
The RMAC preseason coaches' poll was unveiled in late January as Mines was selected fifth. The Orediggers (28-21 overall, 25-12 RMAC in 2019) finished fourth in last year's regular-season standings and made the RMAC Tournament. Dixie State led the poll by two points over Colorado Mesa, with Colorado Christian third and MSU Denver fourth ahead of Mines.

MOVING ON UP
In her senior season, Clara Larson is moving up the Mines record book in nearly every hitting category. Two weeks ago she became the seventh player to reach 200 career hits, and she's seventh all-time at Mines with 204. She already owns the career home runs mark of 35, but she also ranks among the career leaders with 137 runs (tied for 4th), 51 doubles (2nd), 10 triples (sixth), 164 RBI (3rd), and 51 walks (10th).

MINES VS. UCCS [Series: UCCS, 64-50-1]
Mines has won nine of the last 10 games against UCCS including a series sweep in 2018, and a two-game pod split and a win over the Mountain Lions in the RMAC Tournament in 2019. Mines outlasted UCCS 7-5 in an RMAC Tournament elimination game last year, scoring three runs in the sixth to come back for the victory. Sydney Marchando earned the win in relief of Claire Stringfellow.

LOOKING AHEAD
Mines is slated to be at home Feb. 29 and March 1 to host Fort Lewis.