Mines (10-15, 5-3 RMAC) at MSU Denver (9-13, 1-3 RMAC) – Friday, 3 p.m. – Denver, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
Mines (10-15, 5-3 RMAC) at MSU Denver (9-13, 1-3 RMAC) – Saturday, 12 p.m. – Doubleheader – Denver, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
Mines (10-15, 5-3 RMAC) at MSU Denver (9-13, 1-3 RMAC) – Sunday, 12 p.m. – Denver, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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MILE HIGH SHOWDOWN
This weekend brings a mile-high showdown between a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foes as the Colorado School of Mines Baseball team heads to MSU Denver. A short trip east on Highway 6 starts on Friday with a nine-inning game at 3 p.m. Saturday features a doubleheader including two seven-inning contests. The Orediggers and Roadrunners close their series on Sunday with a nine-inning game at 12 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. The RMAC Network can also be found on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Firestick, and Android TV devices by going to the app store and searching "RMAC." Fans can also follow @OrediggersBSB on "X" (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. Live stats of all games are linked above and at www.minesathletics.com as well.
 
WEATHER FORECAST
The Spring Equinox has arrived and Colorado's weather is slowly, but surely, catching up. Friday's outlook features cloudy skies but a high of 57 degrees and minimal chances for precipitation or high winds. The forecast for Saturday brings a little more sun and temps in the 60s. Sunday looks almost identical to Saturday. So, while not quite elite, the weekend weather conditions appear suitable for baseball. As always, fans planning to attend should plan to bring layers and prepare for almost anything.
 
SWEEPING THE COWBOYS
Mines played its first home RMAC games last Saturday, Sunday, and Monday against New Mexico Highlands at Jim Darden Field. The Orediggers emerged with a series sweep and some convincing victories. On Saturday, Mines rallied from a 5-1 deficit to get the 11-9 win. Canon Humphreys and Evan Bilter both homered. Bilter also went 4-for-4 with three runs and three RBI. Seaver Newby claimed the win on the mound in relief. Sunday's doubleheader was all Orediggers. They won 14-3 and 9-1. Jackson Woolwine won the day by hitting for the cycle on the front end while Peter Lynch earned the pitching decision. Bilter went 4-for-4 in game two of the day and the third of the series. Hummel also homered in the 9-1 contest and Will Niles was the winning pitcher. Monday required another Mines rally. This time, the deficit was 13-5. Fortunately for the home team, a nine-run seventh inning capped a 14-run surge. Mason Andrews and Jackson Babock both hit home runs. Newby struck again for the win out of the bullpen.
 
STATISTICAL SUMMARY
The Orediggers' sweep of New Mexico Highlands yielded some big individual performances. Across four games, Evan Bilter hit .684 with seven runs on 13 hits including two doubles and one home run with 10 RBI and two stolen bases. Tyler Easter played in three of the four games and batted .833 while slugging 1.500 thanks to four doubles. Wayne Moeck turned in a .583 batting average. Canon Humphreys and Jackson Woolwine both hit .467 while Woolwine scored seven runs, notched one double, one triple, and one home run. He bolstered his weekend by stealing four bases. Also notable were Seaver Newby's and Will Niles' performances on the mound. Newby went 2-0 in two relief appearances. The Texan's final line featured a .386 ERA thanks to seven strikeouts and zero walks across a total of 7.0 innings out of the bullpen. Niles, a true freshman, started for Mines and went 1-0 after striking out nine and walking three in 6.0 innings of five-hit, one-run baseball.
 
ANOTHER ONE!
As mentioned above, Jackson Woolwine hit for the cycle on Sunday against New Mexico Highlands. That makes him the second Oredigger to hit for the cycle in 2025 alone. Jackson Babcock accomplished the feat last month during non-conference play against Adams State in Colorado Springs. Woolwine's cycle featured a double in the first inning, a groundball RBI in the second inning, a single in the third inning, a home run in the fifth inning, and a triple in the sixth inning. Woolwine hit the milestone (pun intended) in a game scheduled for seven innings where Mines only batted six times.
 
CYCLE FOR BABCOCK
In honor of the second cycle this season, we'll look back at Jackson Babcock's cycle against Adams State. The true freshman hit for the cycle against Adams State in Colorado Springs on Feb. 22. For those who don't know, hitting for the cycle in baseball involves an individual recording at least one single, one double, one triple, and one home run in the same game. Babcock became the first Mines player to hit for the cycle since Adam Houghtaling did it at Colorado Christian in 2023. Houghtaling actually hit for the cycle twice in his career with the first occurrence coming at UCCS in 2022. Babcock started his quest with a two-run home run in the top of the first inning. He notched his triple as the leadoff man in the second inning. The third baseman homered again in the fourth. It was a grand slam – his second of the season. Babcock recorded his single in the sixth inning and then doubled in the eighth inning just before the game was ended due to darkness. Overall, the League City, Texas, native finished the game 5-for-5 with five runs and six RBI. He reached base in all six plate appearances. Additionally, Babcock's five runs tied the program's single-game record.
 
CHASING HISTORY
Multiple Orediggers are attempting to rewrite the program record book. Currently, Mason Andrews is #4 and Jackson Woolwine is tied for #9 in career runs. Woolwine is #7 in career doubles and Andrews is tied for #13. Andrews sits #2 in all-time home runs. He's just five shy of taking down Mikey Gangwish as the Orediggers' long ball king. Teammate Trent Nielsen is tied for #15 on the same list. Andrews' career RBI are #5 in program history. Career walks are the real race to watch. Andrews and Woolwine are tied for #4 with 77 walks apiece. Wayne Moeck is only seven behind with 70. Woolwine is up to #4 in career stolen bases at Mines. He has tied the single-game record of three stolen bases on two occasions including one instance this season in Quincy. Another for Andrews are his career total bases.  At 356, he's #7 in program history. Finally, on the mound, junior pitcher Alex Honeyman sits at exactly 100 career strikeouts in less than three seasons. He's also five wins shy of entering the program's top-10.
 
SCOUTING MSU DENVER
Metropolitan State University Denver currently sits 9-13 overall and 1-3 in RMAC play. The Roadrunners had an open date in their RMAC schedule last weekend and played a three-game set against Augustana in Rapid City, S.D. The Vikings took two and MSU Denver won one. Metro's lone conference series was at home against Regis. The Roadrunners took the opener, 14-7, before falling by scores of 15-1, 10-4, and 17-13. Other non-conference opponents for MSU Denver included Emporia State, Central Oklahoma, Pittsburg State, Oklahoma Baptist, Mary, and Sioux Falls. The combined results of those games included seven wins and eight losses. Cam Yuran and Easton Amundson top a long list of hot Roadrunner bats. Yuran touts a .381 average and 31 runs thanks to 24 hits including six doubles and seven home runs with 21 RBI. He's also walked 25 times. Amundson, a transfer from Liberty University, might only be hitting .250 but owns 25 runs, three doubles, 11 home runs, and 26 RBI. Also notable at the plate is Andrew Graham who's hitting .426 with 22 runs, six doubles, four home runs and 24 RBI. On the mound, Nolan Livsey boats a 4-1 record and a 6.58 ERA thanks to 24 strikeouts compared to 18 walks in 26.0 innings of work. Brad Helton leads the team in strikeouts with 28 in 26.0 innings. Carter Swan handles the backend on the merits of two saves in nine appearances. MSU Denver's team batting average is .317 and its combined ERA is 9.21.
 
OREDIGGERS AGAINST THE ROADRUNNERS
Since 2009, Mines and MSU Denver have faced off in baseball a total of 74 times and each team has won 37 games in that span. The Roadrunners hold a narrow, 34-33, advantage in conference matchups. Appropriately, the teams are 5-5 in their last 10 meetings. That being said, Mines took three of four games from MSU Denver last season in Denver. The Orediggers and Roadrunners split the four-game series in Golden in 2023. In the most recent meeting, last year's series finale on April 29, Jackson Woolwine hit a double and a home run while scoring twice and driving in three. Tyler Pina went 3-for-3 with one run and four RBI thanks to a home run and a double. Alex Honeyman was the winning pitcher in that game.
 
IN THE PROS
Over the last seven years, three 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 earned his 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. Rounding out but leading the trio is Walter Pennington (2017-20).
 
WALTER PENNINGTON
Walter Pennington had a milestone season in 2024. After spending 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 in the Kansas City Royals minor league system, the former Oredigger left-handed pitcher broke into the big leagues. He made his MLB debut with the Royals against the Rockies at Coors Field, just miles from his childhood home. That appearance made the Broomfield, Colo., native just the second Mines player to ever make the big leagues and the first in over a century. Eventually, Pennington was traded to the Texas Rangers for known-veteran Michael Lorenzen. Pennington moved between triple-A Round Rock and the Rangers' big-league club. For the year, the lefty's big-league resume featured a 1-0 record with a 3.00 ERA in 16 games and one start. He struck out 17 and walked 11 across 18.0 innings of work. For his career in the minor leagues, Pennington is 23-11 with a 3.49 ERA in 149 appearances and four starts. He also boasts 10 saves and 258 strikeouts with 245.0 innings under his belt. To round it all out, Pennington named to the International League (AAA) All-Star team. More to come on Pennington as the season progresses.
 
THE SKIPPER
The 2025 campaign marks Mines' seventh season with Robby Bales as head coach. During his tenure as the Oredigger skipper, Bales holds an overall record of 156-121 with a mark of 100-74 in RMAC play. He has coached his players to 26 All-RMAC awards, 19 all-region awards, eight all-America nods, seven CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, one MLB Draft Pick and had one player signed as a free agent in the MLB. Furthermore, Bales touts two RMAC Pitchers of the Year during his time at the helm including RMAC Pitcher of the Year, NCBWA South Central Region Pitcher of the Year, D2CCA South Central Region Pitcher of the Year and the RMAC's all-time wins leader in Tyler Blomster. Additionally, Bales has guided Mines to the NCAA Tournament once, and RMAC Tournament four times, advancing to the regional and conference tournament final in 2019. Bales' teams have also performed in the classroom as the squad brought home the RMAC Brechler Award in 2020, 2021, and 2023 as the team boasting the highest combined GPA in the conference.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Mines is slated to host Colorado Mesa March 28-30 at Jim Darden Field. Live stats and video on the RMAC Network will be offered free of charge with links at www.minesathletics.com.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines baseball on "X" (formerly Twitter) and Instagram at @OrediggersBSB. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, "X" and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.