DENVER – MSU Denver seniors stepped into starring roles Monday as the Roadrunners closed out the regular season with a doubleheader split against Colorado School of Mines, winning the opening game 9-4 before falling 13-3 in the nightcap.
 
The Roadrunners lost three of four in the series and are 28-22 overall while falling into fifth place in the wild scramble for second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference at 19-13.
 
"It was a little rough losing three," senior first baseman Zach Schuler said. "It's pretty sad, seeing all the guys who have been workhorses for us the last three years have to go. But we have good memories here, and we'll cherish those."
 
Schuler mashed two home runs in the opening game, moving ahead of roommate Jake Williams on the MSU Denver career home run list with 49. Williams, who has 48, had broken Rusty Befus' 32-year-old home run record last weekend.
 
"There's a lot of home runs in the house," Schuler said, smiling.
 
Said coach Ryan Strain: "Schu can obviously leave the yard at any point, and he had some big ones today. It's crazy that you've got two guys who have broken the record and now are going back and forth breaking each other's record – hopefully those aren't the last ones they've hit and they can go back and forth during the tournament."
 
Schuler's three-run homer in the first inning made it 4-0, and his two-run shot in the fifth made it 7-2.
 
Dylan Webber turned in a strong start, allowing four runs on 10 hits in six innings, but Mines put together a rally against him and reliever Brady McLean in the seventh, loading the bases with no outs and MSU Denver holding a 9-3 lead.
 
In stepped senior reliever Gabe Austin, who yielding a sacrifice fly that made it 9-4, then got a ground out and a fly out to escape the jam. The right-hander closed it out for a three-inning save, his second of the season.
 
"The last few times I've been on the mound, I haven't had things go the way I wanted," Austin said. "Being Senior Weekend and all, I wanted to leave it all out here. I put everything I had into it and it worked out well."
 
Said Strain: "Gabe has worked his tail off for six years, and I'm happy for him. He and some of the seniors had some good moments this weekend, and some seniors didn't have as good of moments as they would have liked. Gabe came into a big spot, with a bases-loaded situation when we had the lead. And then he did a nice job getting those next six outs, too."
 
In the seven-inning second game, Mines scored four runs in each of the first two innings, then two runs in each of the next two to take a 12-0 lead.
 
"It just comes down to how you pitch," Strain said. "Momentum gets taken away by the next starting pitcher.
 
"We got off to a bad start, gave up the four-spot and gave them some energy, and then their guy did a nice job. He doesn't have overpowering stuff, but he has the great equalizer in the changeup, he keeps the ball down and doesn't walk people.
 
"You get down 10-0, 12-0, it starts to affect the offense."
 
While MSU Denver's regular season is over, the rest of the league still has four-game series on the schedule for next weekend.
 
The Roadrunners have clinched a spot in the six-team RMAC Tournament and are two games behind Regis (18-10) while trailing Mines and Adams State (both 17-11) by percentage points. Regis closes the season against sixth-place CSU Pueblo (15-13), Mines plays host to UCCS and Adams State plays at league champion Colorado Mesa (22-6).
 
The Roadrunners could still finish as high as second place and could potentially wind up in a tiebreaker that might put them sixth.
 
"It's tough, being Senior Weekend and wanting to put ourselves in a really good spot going into the tournament," Austin said. "Everyone wanted to play really well this weekend, but sometimes things just don't go your way."
 
Besides Schuler, Austin and Williams, other Roadrunners wrapping up their home careers were shortstop Caleb Albaugh, outfielder Jayden Cordova, pitchers Reichle Arcilise, Carson Brown, Andrew Hayes, Brady McLean, Tyler Schultz and Jack Slominski.
 
Austin and Schultz have been with the program for six seasons – redshirting in 2019 and then using their COVID-19 waiver for 2020.
 
"It's crazy," Austin said. "It doesn't feel like six years, it feels like it was the blink of an eye. A lot of great players have come through here, a lot of pitchers who have helped me out and evolve. I want to make them proud, and play for my brothers and although this year hasn't been exactly what we'd hoped it would be, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I love getting out here and competing.
 
"Six years sounds like a long time, but it goes so fast you hardly notice. I wish I could go back and do six more."
 
ROADRUNNERS MILESTONES: Albaugh had a hit in each game and now has 245 for his career. He passed Reece Gorman, who had 243 hits from 2005 through 2008, for second place on the program's all-time list and needs three more to pass Befus (1988-92), who had 247. … Schuler now ranks second in program history with 399 total bases after passing Jake Palmer (395 from 2005-08). Befus' total-base record is 444.