The Colorado Mesa University baseball team had a series this past weekend against Cal Baptist University in Riverside, California. Heading into the series, Colorado Mesa Coach Chris Hanks was two wins away from 700 in his career. The Mavericks made sure they would get him the wins. The victory on Thursday 9-1 meant that Hanks was one win away from 700. The 700th win occurred on Friday in the first game of the doubleheader. Mesa took that game 5-4 earning him 700 and improving their early record to 6-1. Hanks has been one of the most successful coaches in Mavericks’ history.
In his first season, in 1999 Mesa went 42-17 overall and won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) ending up in the NCAA West Regional. This was a taste of how Mesa would play under Hanks. The best year was in 2007 when the team had an impressive record of 49-14, winning the RMAC and another trip to the NCAA West Regional. 2009 Mesa was good enough to host the Central Regional. They would win the whole thing and head to the NCAA Division II World Series for the first time in school history.
2014 was the most successful season in terms of postseason play. Mesa was 47-13 and won the RMAC Tournament. They hosted the NCAA Central Regional. Mesa won it on their home field, earning their second trip to the NCAA Division II World Series. In the World Series the Mavs ended up in the title game only to fall to Southern Indiana in 12 innings.
Hanks has an outstanding record of 701-304 after this past weekend. The wins will continue to climb. Under Hanks’ leadership they have won 10 RMAC Tournaments, been selected to 13 Regionals, and had 2 appearances in the Division II World Series. Since the day Hanks took the job, he has preached to his players about playing the game of baseball the right way. This has led them to being a winning program. We will have to wait until May to know if they will win the RMAC and appear in another Regional. Hopefully this time they can win the Regional for another trip to the Division II World Series. It was an exceptional accomplishment for him to win his 700th game.
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