Mines (14-6, 3-5 RMAC) at CSU Pueblo (13-9, 6-2 RMAC) – Friday, 2 p.m. – Pueblo, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
Mines (14-6, 3-5 RMAC) at CSU Pueblo (13-9, 6-2 RMAC) – Saturday, 12 p.m. – DH – Pueblo, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
Mines (14-6, 3-5 RMAC) at CSU Pueblo (13-9, 6-2 RMAC) – Sunday, 1 p.m. – Pueblo, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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ON THE ROAD – AGAIN
The Colorado School of Mines Baseball team started its season with 16 consecutive road games before opening at home last weekend against the RMAC's first-place team in #5 Colorado Mesa. This weekend, the Orediggers are back on the road facing another team atop the conference standings as they head to CSU Pueblo for a four-game, RMAC set at Rawlings Field. The ThunderWolves have gone 8-2 over their last 10 while Mines is 4-6 after starting the season 11-0. Only three games separate the top seven teams in the RMAC standings in the early race for a conference crown. That makes this weekend all the more exciting as "The Pack" fights to stay tied for first while the Orediggers strive to close the gap. Action begins with a single, nine-inning game Friday at 2 p.m. The series continues Saturday with a doubleheader at 12 p.m. Sunday features the nine-inning finale at 1 p.m.
 
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
Despite a rainy, snowy mix in Pueblo on Thursday, the weekend itself promises high-quality weather for baseball. Friday's opener will take place with a high temperature in the mid-50s. Saturday and Sunday's temps should approach 70 degrees. All three days project mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies and nothing more than a light breeze. Fans should keep in mind that there is nothing to stop a "breeze" in Pueblo so it might be more windy than breezy. Either way, a light jacket and sunscreen should suffice for those planning to attend in person.
 
SPLITTING WITH MESA
After multiple shifts, changes and adjustments to last weekend's schedule due to weather and field conditions, Mines was finally able to open its home slate for 2022 by hosting the #5-ranked Colorado Mesa Mavericks at Jim Darden Field. The new-look series featured a doubleheader Sunday and a doubleheader Monday and the Orediggers showed up in a big way for both days. In Sunday's nine-inning opener, the home team hung tough with the nation's fifth-ranked team for six innings before a two-out error in the seventh allowed CMU to tie the game and eventually pull away for a 12-6 win. However, Mines immediately responded with a 6-4 victory in game two of the day. Kevin Zapanta (4-1) earned the win on the mound, Zachary Kriethe pitched the save and Adam Houghtaling played the hero on offense with a 3-for-3 performance that included two runs and two RBI on a double and a home run. The win snapped the Orediggers' 18-game losing streak against Colorado Mesa, and the home team made it back-to-back wins by opening Monday's opener. The come-from-behind, 6-5 victory featured brilliant relief from winning pitcher Marcus Lee, a save for Tyler Blomster and a 4-for-4 game from Luke Folsom. What followed was highly unfortunate as the Mavericks no-hit the Orediggers for a 4-0 win in the series finale.
 
SCOUTING CSU PUEBLO
CSU Pueblo started the season 5-7 which included series splits with Emporia State and San Francisco State. The ThunderWolves then rolled into conference play and grabbed a pair of series victories over Regis and most-recently MSU Denver. They are averaging nearly eight runs a game on offense thanks to more than 2.0 doubles per contest. At the same time, "The Pack" has given up exactly one more run than it has scored so far this season making the run differential a wash. Individually, Brady Hewitt leads CSU Pueblo starters with a .390 batting average. However, it's Trey Vasquez's 24 RBI and Noah Hennings 24 runs that are tops on the team. Hennings also touts nine doubles and a pair of triples. On the mound, Zach Pratt and Tim McIntyre are a combined 7-1 on the season. Pratt owns a 3.07 ERA behind 26 strikeouts in 29.1 innings. McIntyre sits on a 4.66 ERA. He has 21 strikeouts in 29.0 innings, but opposing batters do hit at a .313 clip off of him. It's also worth noting that CSU Pueblo has played 12 of its 22 games at home so far in 2022, going 7-5 in Pueblo with a 3-0 mark at neutral sites and a 3-4 record in true road games.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Mines trails the all-time series against CSU Pueblo, but the Orediggers have found success against the ThunderWolves in recent history. Over the last 10 meetings, Mines has gone 7-3 against "The Pack". That being said, last season saw CSU Pueblo snap a seven-game losing streak against the Orediggers and get its first series win since 2013. The 2021 series was supposed to be played in Golden, but was flipped South due to weather and field conditions. Even though Mines lost the series, it did get its first win of the 2021 season in the series finale behind Brayden Weyer's complete-game, five-run, eight-hit victory with seven strikeouts. Also notable was the meeting between the Orediggers and ThunderWolves on April 14, 2019. Mines won that game in Pueblo by a score of 27-11 which tied or broke three different program records including most runs scored in a game.
 
BLOMSTER SAVES
No, not that kind of saving. The pitching kind. Earlier this week, Tyler Blomster flipped roles from starter to closer and earned his first save of the season in Mines' 6-5 win against #5 Colorado Mesa on Monday. The Texan's trip out of the bullpen featured 2.0 innings with zero runs, zero walks, zero hit batters and one hit while striking out two. It marked the third save of Blomster's career after he notched two during the 2019 campaign. This season alone, Blomster has yet to surrender an earned run or hit for extra bases. His career line features a 31-7 record including eight complete games, three shutouts, three saves and 285 strikeouts in 272.1 innings of work. His career ERA is 3.83.
 
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
So far this season, we've covered batting average and slugging percentage. Relatively speaking, both of those are straight forward. This week, fans will learn how to calculate earned run average (ERA). For the sake of brevity, this will not cover how to determine an earned vs. unearned run. It will simply help fans learn the equation. The intent or purpose of ERA is to summarize how many runs a pitcher is responsible for every 9.0 innings since most don't actually pitch 9.0 innings. The equation is number of earned runs multiplied by nine and then divided by number of actual innings pitched (earned runs x 9/innings pitched = ERA). Keep in mind that if a pitcher does not complete an inning, it is counted by thirds. So even though writers and statistics summarize it was .1 or .2, the math would require .333 or .667. Here are two examples. Marcus Lee has given up four earned runs in 7.0 innings. That would make his ERA 4x9/7=5.14 (check the stats page on www.minesathletics.com). The second example uses partial innings. Zachary Kriethe has given up three earned runs in 15.1 innings. Remember that .1 = .333 and .2 = .667, making Kriethe's ERA 3x9/15.333=1.76. And now you know.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers return home March 25-27 to host four games against Colorado Christian at Jim Darden Field. Tickets can be purchased online or at the gate. Live stats and video will also be linked at www.minesathletics.com.
 
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.