ARVADA — There are several different ways to win a baseball game.
For example, Arvada West pushed the eventual game-winning run across the plate Thursday afternoon against ThunderRidge without a hit in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Wildcats claimed a 3-2 victory despite being held to just three hits in the non-league tilt against the Grizzlies.
“What we tell our kids all the time is as long as you stay close you always have a chance,” A-West coach Danny Vais said. “We all know baseball is a weird game and you see weird plays every time you go out there.”
With the game tied at 2-2 to start the bottom of the sixth inning, sophomore Dane Reed was hit-by-pitch to start the inning. Reed would use his speed to steal second and third base. Sophomore Jordan Hamblin drove in Reed with a ground out to the shortstop to give the Wildcats a 3-2 lead.
Senior Seth Dreeszen took the mound for A-West (4-2 record) to try to close things out in the top of the seventh inning. However, just how most of the game went for the Wildcats, it wasn’t easy.
Dreeszen gave up a 1-out walk to ThunderRidge’s Reed Ladewig. A single by Brock Lansville put the tying run in scoring position and go-ahead run on base. With Ladewig on third base, Dreeszen fired his second wild pitch of the inning over the head of freshman catcher Brayden Reiner.
“I meant to do that,” Dreeszen joked of the wild pitch. “I over strided a little bit. I was trying to gas it up a little bit. It ended up working in our favor.”
Reiner was able to scramble to the backstop to retrieve the ball and fire it to Dreeszen who raced to cover home plate. Dreeszen tagged out Ladewig trying to score for the second out of the inning.
After another walk issued by Dreeszen, ThunderRidge’s Ty Beutner flied out to left field to end the game.
Dreeszen picked up the save, while senior Tucker Deal picked up the victory. Deal pitched the fifth and sixth inning after starter Will Stevens pitched the first four innings.
“I’m always happy with our pitchers,” Vais said of what Stevens, Deal and Dreeszen did on the hill against the Grizzlies. “They know how to compete. They know how to attack the zone. They all know what their strengths are. It’s not always perfect, but they do a good job.”
ThunderRidge has twice as many hits (six) than A-West. The Grizzlies (1-6) got a good outing from Lansville on the mound before A-West finally scored in the bottom of the fifth inning. Dreeszen broke up Lansville’s shutout bid with a 2-out single to drive in Deal to tie the game up at 1-1.
“My bat wasn’t really awake either,” Dreeszen admitted. “It has been a little bit of a rough start to the season, but I was just trying to turn it around. Trying to stay as relaxed as possible.”
Senior Tobey Cassino’s single up the middle scored Dreeszen to give A-West its first lead 2-1. ThunderRidge did answer with an RBI ground-out by Brody Dinges in the top of the sixth inning to tie it up 2-2.
ThunderRidge’s Jonah Lassen took the mound in the bottom of the sixth inning and ended up taking the loss despite not giving up a hit in the inning of work.
“These are the kind of games that (league) is going to look like,” Dreeszen said. “The more we can do the little things right the more we can scratch out some wins against some really good teams. We’ve got some tough games coming up.”
A-West is scheduled to host Denver North on Saturday, April 1, before hitting the road next week for games against Mullen and Cherry Creek.