Mines (12-4, 1-3 RMAC) vs. #5 Colorado Mesa (13-3, 4-0 RMAC) – Sunday, 12 p.m. – DH – Jim Darden Field [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
Mines (12-4, 1-3 RMAC) vs. #5 Colorado Mesa (13-3, 4-0 RMAC) – Monday, 12 p.m. – DH – Jim Darden Field [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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BASEBALL RETURNS TO DARDEN FIELD
For the first time in 2022, the Colorado School of Mines Baseball team will play at the friendly confines of Jim Darden Field in Golden. The Orediggers face a tall task in their home openers as they host #5 Colorado Mesa. Weather and field conditions have already shifted the schedule twice. As of Saturday morning, the two teams will open the series on Sunday with a doubleheader at noon and close it Monday with another doubleheader at noon. Both twin bills will open with a nine-inning game and close with a seven-inning game as laid out by RMAC rule.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Every Mines home game and all RMAC games can be seen live and for free on the RMAC Network at www.minesathletics.com/tv. Additionally, the Orediggers' home games will feature play-by-play commentary from Miles Dunklin. 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 @OrediggersBSB on Twitter for live in-game updates.
 
WEATHER FORECAST
Sunday and Monday both project quality conditions for baseball. Sunday's high is forecasted at 55 degrees with partly cloudy skies and a light breeze up to 11 mph. Monday offers clear skies and a high of 51 degrees with even less wind than Sunday. As is the nature of March in Colorado, there is likely to be a light chill in the air so sunscreen and some layers would be recommended.
 
LOOKING BACK
Mines opened its conference slate last weekend with a pair of doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday at MSU Denver. The Orediggers split RMAC opening day with a 12-1 loss and a 2-0 victory. Caden Bonds was Mines' offense, accounting for two of the three runs with one scored and one driven in. Tyler Blomster gave the Orediggers their game-two win by spinning a seven-inning shutout. He gave up just three hits, zero walks, one hit batter and struck out six. Only one runner advanced safely beyond first base. Saturday saw MSU Denver sweep both games from Mines by scores of 6-2 and 5-4. Bonds highlighted again with a 3-for-3 performance that included two runs scored. Brady Veltien was the story in game two thanks to the first home run of his career which was a two-run shot in the fifth inning to break up the shutout.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO MESA
Colorado Mesa will arrive in Golden boasting a six-game win streak including an unblemished conference record while sitting 13-3 overall. The Mavericks' last loss came at the hands of then #7-ranked Northwest Nazarene on Feb. 25. It was a 4-0, shutout defeat. Since that decision, CMU has outscored its opposition 54-18 including a 20-8 win against Adams State to finish the series sweep. Individually, Mesa boasts a slew of stars but the main one to know is defending National Player of the Year Haydn McGeary. So far in 2022, McGeary is hitting .593 with 21 runs on 35 hits including eight doubles, one triple and nine home runs resulting in 23 RBI in 16 games. That being said, all eight Mavericks considered starts in the statistics are batting over .300 with at least one home run and one double each. On the mound its Kannon Handy topping a long list of quality arms. Handy is 2-1 in four starts with a 5.14 ERA on 29 strikeouts in 21.0 innings. His lone loss of the year came after he tossed 6.0 innings of one-run, four-hit baseball while striking out 10 batters. Colorado Mesa was picked to win the RMAC in the preseason coaches' poll and currently ranks #5 in the nation in the coaches' poll and #9 nationally according to the sports information directors.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Mines trails the all-time series against Colorado Mesa by a hefty margin. The Orediggers haven't taken a game off the Mavericks since April 27, 2018. The 2018 and 2016 campaigns were Mines' most successful with three wins over CMU each of those two years. The three wins in 2018 all came in-a-row which gave the Orediggers' their longest winning streak over the Mavericks since at least the year 2000. It's also worth noting that the last 14 games between the two teams have been played away from Golden, Colo., including 13 of those in Grand Junction, Colo. Mines hasn't hosted Colorado Mesa at Jim Darden Field since April 29, 2018.
 
PITCHER OF THE WEEK X3
Tyler Blomster was named RMAC Pitcher of the Week and NCBWA Regional Pitcher of the Week for the third time this season following his performance at MSU Denver last weekend. The 6-7 Texan hurled 7.0 innings of three-hit, shutout baseball while striking out six batters with zero walks in Mines' 2-0 victory against the Roadrunners in game two on Friday. He gave up zero hits for extra bases and only one MSU Denver batter advanced safely beyond first base in the entire game. For the season, Blomster improved to 4-0 with a 0.00 ERA and 0.74 WHIP thanks to 29 strikeouts compared to three walks in 27.0 innings of work. He has yet to surrender a hit for extra bases and has limited opposing hitters to .177 at the plate.
 
IN THE RANKINGS
As always, fans should note that national rankings have zero bearing on whether a team is selected for the NCAA Tournament. That is based solely on the regional rankings released late in the season. After dropping its series at MSU Denver, Mines fell out of the national rankings while the Roadrunners stepped in at #24 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Division II Top 25. Colorado Mesa also appeared at #9 on that list. The coaches came out with their first poll of the regular season and dropped CMU from #2 to #5. The Mavericks are the only RMAC team currently appearing on the coaches' list. Tampa is the #1 team in the coaches' poll at 15-2. Nova Southeastern sits atop the NCBWA rankings thanks to a record of 16-0.
 
IN THE PROS
Over the last four years, four Orediggers have entered baseball's professional ranks. Mikey Gangwish (2016-19) was the first as he played professionally in Australia before returning to a contract with the Evansville Otters of the independent Frontier League. He has since retired and returned to pursue a master's degree at Mines. The second was Trevor Kehe (2017-19) who was drafted in the 36th round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Baltimore Orioles. He worked in the Orioles organization for three years and advanced as far as High-A ball with the Aberdeen IronBirds before retiring this last summer. Rounding out the trio is Walter Pennington (2017-20). The left-handed hurler signed a free-agent contract with the Kansas City Royals in the summer of 2020 and played the 2021 season with the organization's Low-A affiliate, the Columbia Fireflies. Pennington currently remains under contract with the Royals amid the MLB lockout.
 
BASEBALL MATH
Last week, a new section was introduced to the preview to help casual to passing fans learn more about some of the numbers used when talking baseball. The first spotlight went to how batting average was calculated. This week, we'll look at slugging percentage. Like batting average, slugging percentage uses total at-bats as its denominator. As a reminder, at-bats are not the same as plate appearances. Fans can go back to last week's article for a refresher. Slugging percentage uses total bases as it numerator. That makes the formula for slugging percentage total bases divided by at-bats (TB/AB=Slugging). Now, it is important to understand how total bases are counted. That number comes solely from what you do at the plate. Not what happens after you reach base safely. A single is worth one base, a double is two bases, a triple is three and… you guessed it… a home run is four total bases. Getting a hit is the only way to collect total bases. Now for the application with a little review sprinkled in as well. If Caden Bonds hits a single and a double in three at-bats, his batting average is .667 (two hits/three at-bats), but his slugging percentage is 1.000 because he had three total bases in three at-bats. Let's change the numbers. This time, Bonds goes 3-for-5 with two home runs and a double. His batting average is .600 (2/5) and his slugging is 2.000. Two home runs are four bases each and a double is two bases. That gives him 10 total bases in five at-bats. Another note. If a player only hits singles, that player's slugging percentage will match his or her batting average. Tune back in next week for more.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Next on the schedule for Mines is a four-game set at CSU Pueblo running March 18-20. As always, weather could play a factor and all schedule changes will be announced at www.minesathletics.com and on Twitter at @MinesAthletics. Live stats and video of all games will be linked at the same website.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines baseball on Twitter at @OrediggersBSB. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.