UCCS opened the 2026 baseball and softball seasons with a bang, racking up three RMAC Player of the Week honors.
Redshirt-junior infielder Trevor Dale, redshirt-senior pitcher Gerrit Erickson and junior utility player Jennavine Goldsworth each earned the first Player of the Week honor of their collegiate careers.
Dale saw beach balls at the plate all weekend, reaching base safely in five out of nine at-bats in the Mountain Lions’ opening series versus Fort Hays State. Four of those five hits left the yard, giving the redshirt junior four home runs in just three games.
With his lone non-homer being a triple off the wall, Dale capped off the weekend with a .615 on-base percentage, three walks, eight RBIs and four home runs.
According to Dale, the secret to his dominant game comes down to understanding baseball as a mental game as much as a physical game.
“This weekend it was mostly trust. Having self-belief in my swing is big and it’s actually something I’ve been focusing on recently,” Dale said. “Focusing on the mental cues has really helped me as well. The confidence is there and it’s not going anywhere.”
The 29-run outing didn’t come out of nowhere. The team had a clear plan headed into the game. “Offensively, just hitting the ball hard and making quality contact. Not chasing, staying disciplined, and just being a college hitter. Swinging on good counts, taking good pitches, and being a team player will go a long way,” Dale said.
In the Mountain Lions’ 14-3 victory, Gerrit Erickson delivered a career-high 5.0 innings on the mound, earning him RMAC Pitcher of the Week. The redshirt-senior allowed just one earned run on three hits while striking out three batters to close out his award-winning performance.
The dominant opener was a shot of confidence for Erickson. “Last year I struggled letting it loose and it was a bit of a confidence issue for me. But starting the year off like this means my confidence is at an all-time high,” he said.
The redshirt-senior underwent elbow surgery in 2024 and struggled to find his footing fresh off recovery a year ago.
“It was hard coming back mentally; before surgery I was obviously throwing as hard as I could, and when I came back, I struggled doing that. So that was a bit of a mental block, and a hurdle I had to get over last year, but my arm is feeling great,” Erickson said.
Pitching not only keeps the other team off the scoreboard but in a way it can help the offense thrive. According to Dale, it helps the team get into a rhythm.
“After that [first inning] we were just in cruise control. When a team is connected like that, it’s just good baseball, it’s fun to play,” said Erickson.
The Mountain Lions took two games in a three-game series against Minnesota-Crookston that began on Friday, Feb. 6. The team looks to continue their momentum, hosting a three-game series against Jamestown on Feb. 13.
Softball
On the softball side, Goldsworth, a preseason All American got the team off to a blistering start, earning Player of the Week honors after finishing the opening weekend with a .591 batting average, 13 hits, four doubles and three RBIs.
With a 5-for-6 performance on Jan. 30, Goldsworth became the first UCCS softball player to ever start a season with a five-hit game. To cap it all off, she added six stolen bases, already tying her 2025 season total.
“I think the opportunities to steal bases just weren’t really there for me last year. Being aggressive on the bases is one of our goals for this year; being able to catch a defense off guard can really get your momentum going as a team,” Goldsworth said.
The Mountain Lions have stolen more bases than the year before, s a skill emphasized by head coach Dwight Sanders.
Goldsworth points to a great mentality being the key to her performance, “We had this thing where coach had us write down something we wanted to tell ourselves during our at-bats. So I just told myself to prove people wrong,” she said.
While the win on the schedule looks nice, Goldsworth said that the focus of the team is on growth and not constant perfection. “The goal is to be productive and to grow with each game. So not necessarily that we have to win, but as long as we grow, that’s a win in our eyes,” she said.
The growth mindset established by Coach Sanders and his staff led to a 4-1 start for the Mountain Lions in the South Central Regional Crossover in New Mexico.
“I think this will be a good year for us, I feel like our defense this past weekend was really strong, and our lineup was very consistent as well. We have a tight group, and I hope we earn a lot of Player of the Week awards as the season goes on,” Goldsworth said.
The Mountain Lions went 2-2 in the Southern Regional Crossover and begin RMAC play on Feb. 21 against Colorado School of Mines.
Players of the week Trevor Dale and Gerrit Erickson. Graphic by GoMountainlions.