The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference baseball championships are down to the final day of competition and they have offered rarities, runs galore, nail biters and upsets so far.  Saturday will feature a pair of games in the fourth day of competition, which will determine the postseason champ as Colorado Mines seeks to become the third different winner in the last five seasons.

Colorado Mesa (48-6) served as host at the Diamond at Hamilton Ballpark in Grand Junction.  The country’s second-ranked team, CMU had not lost at home all year until CSU Pueblo upset them on Friday with the help of an inside the park grand slam.  The Mavs came back strong Friday morning with an 11-4 win over third seeded UCCS (37-19-1), then defeated number two MSU Denver (38-15) 10-2 at night in a must-win game.  Those two wins put CMU into the final game Saturday at 4:30 pm against the winner of the 1:00 pm game, and the Mavs are seeking to extend their record most tournament wins to 23.  READ MORE

MSU Denver won both of its games handily, 19-6 and 7-2, on the first two days of competition.  The Roadrunners held a 2-1 lead after four innings against the top seeds CMU, but could only manage two extra base hits compared to the Mavs’ seven.  MSU Denver has won the tournament twice, in 2002 and 2022, and will need to win a pair of games Saturday to claim its third title.

The Roadrunners’ opponent in the first game Saturday will be Colorado Mines (20-32), the fifth seeds in the event.  After a lopsided loss to start the tournament, Mines defeated Regis 19-17 after scoring nine unanswered runs over two innings.  On Friday Mines eliminated fourth-seeded CSU Pueblo (27-26) in convincing fashion, 13-1.  The Orediggers are looking to make history, as they have never won the RMAC postseason tournament and have won the regular season title just twice, in 1912 and 1922.  READ MORE