CHSAANow

Category: Baseball

  • Resurrection Christian claims 2A baseball crown over Sedgwick County

    (Tracy Renck)
    (Tracy Renck)

    PUEBLO — Jake Lohr didn’t leave anything to chance in the Class 2A state championship baseball game Saturday.

    The senior struck out nine, powering Resurrection Christian to a 5-1 win over Sedgwick County at Hobbs Field at the Runyon Field Sports Complex.

    “I just wanted to leave it all out there,” the 6-foot-2, 190-pound right-handed Lohr said. “We wanted to win this state championship so bad and that’s what we came here to do. I had nerves the whole game, but I had complete confidence in the guys behind me.  It just feels great to achieve this goal.”

    Resurrection Christian finished its memorable season with a 22-3 record. The Cougars advanced to the finals by cruising past defending 2A state champion Denver Christian 13-3 earlier Saturday. Resurrection also won state in 2012.

    Sedgwick County ended its campaign at 22-2. Sedgwick had a dramatic 4-1 win over Rye in eight innings in the semifinals. Chase Dunker fanned 15 batters in the win. Dunker, a senior southpaw, finished his season with a 9-0 record and 144 strikeouts.

    “This is a special group of boys,” second-year Resurrection coach Grant MacAlmon said. “They understood what the big picture was and I’m so proud of them.”

    In the bottom of the second, Resurrection Christian’s Jake Tomcheck came up with bases loaded and he dropped a safety squeeze bunt to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.

    Resurrection kept its offense momentum going in the third frame as Luke Mondt had a lead-off double and then came home on an RBI single by Josh Miller.

    Sedgwick County cut the deficit to 2-1 in the top of the fifth on Trey Walter’s sacrifice fly. With two outs, Chase Dunker came to the plate with a runner on third, but Lohr struck out Dunker on some high heat.

    In the bottom of the sixth, Del Chance Richardson reached on an error and then the left-handed swinging Mondt smashed a run-scoring triple to right field.  Mondt scored moments later on another Sedgwick County error and then Nate Wiggins doubled to put runners on second and third.

    Leading 4-1, Cory Wiggins placed a bunt just past the pitcher Tyler Woodhams to score Richardson, giving the Cougars a 5-1 lead.

    “We all wanted to win state and we just kept pushing through every game,” Mondt, a junior, said. “I was relaxed up there at the plate, but I give Jake a lot of credit for his solid effort. Plus, our offense came through with some big hits when we needed them.”

    Justin Peters, Sedgwick County’s coach, wasn’t making any excuses for his team’s tough defeat.

    “There’s not much to be said about it,” Peters said. “Two ball clubs came together and played really hard and the outcome is what it came out to be.”

  • Photos: Green Mountain wins 4A baseball championship

    LAKEWOOD — Green Mountain beat Longmont 9-1 in the morning, then Niwot 10-2 in the afternoon to win the Class 4A baseball championship Saturday.

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    Green Mountain 9, Longmont 1

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    Green Mountain 10, Niwot 2

  • Green Mountain, Longmont win Friday’s 4A baseball games

    Green Mountain Durango baseball
    More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

    LAKEWOOD — Green Mountain catcher Justin Akiyama spent early Friday morning dressed in his graduation gown, celebrating the end of his journey as a high school student. Hours later he lifted a bloop-single into shallow left field, driving home two runs and extending his career as a high school baseball player for another day.

    Trailing the Durango Demons 6-5 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Rams remained patient at the plate, loading the bases with three-straight walks. That’s when Akiyama worked the count full before bringing in the two runners to give Green Mountain a 7-6 win and an opportunity to play for the Class 4A state championship.

    “I was thinking I just had to believe in myself,” Akiyama said. “I’ve come up big with some clutch hits throughout the season, but haven’t hit well overall and was able to come up with that hit when we needed it.”

    What started out as a pitchers’ duel for the first few innings turned into an offensive outburst. In the top of the third inning, the Demons were able to break a scoreless tie with a five-run rally that was triggered with a two-RBI double by Blake Dunlap.

    Green Mountain Durango baseball
    More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

    Dunlap and two other Demons would cross the plate before the end of the inning to give them a 5-0 lead. The Rams began their effort to claw back by scoring one off Demons pitcher Lawrence Mayberry. It was in the bottom of the fourth that Mayberry was replaced by junior Casey Dunlap who struggled right out of the gate. He walked three batters while hitting two others, allowing the Rams to fight back and tie the game at 5.

    “That’s been this team all playoffs, we’ve been down to our last out three or four times in an elimination game,” Rams coach Brad Madden said. “But they kept believing and I think we let them off the hook a couple of times where I thought we could really blow it open.”

    The Rams botched an attempt to turn an inning-ending double play in the sixth, giving Durango a one-run lead late in the game. As the younger Dunlap settled in on the mound, the Demons coaching staff showed enough faith to let him finish the game. After recording two quick outs in the seventh inning, Dunlap walked the bases loaded prior to giving up the game-winning hit by Akiyama.

    The win for the Rams cleared up part of the picture for Saturday’s action. With Niwot standing as the only unbeaten team in the state bracket entering the day, a win over Longmont would have pit them against Green Mountain for the title, with the Rams having to win twice to take a state championship. But the easy path was not in store for Niwot, which fell to the Cougars 11-4 in the second half of Friday’s double header.

    The Cougars opted to send sophomore Ford Ladd to the mound against their league rival. Ladd had thrown a shutout against Durango and seemed to be up to the task of eliminating the Trojans.

    Longmont had other ideas as it wase able to get to Ladd early and chip away to a 4-0 lead. With two outs in the third inning, he was pulled in favor of Cameron Kopplinger who was able to contain the Longmont bats through the third, fourth and fifth innings.

    After two hits and walk to load the bases in the sixth, Andrew Baldt slammed the door on the game by crushing a hanging curveball for a grand slam.

    Longmont Niwot baseball
    More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

    “I knew I hit it square, but had a second thought because I knew it was pretty damn deep (in left-center field),” Baldt said. “I started running a bit but it got over.”

    With a six-run lead, the Trojans were able to coast the rest of the way. They exorcised the demons of getting beat by Niwot twice in the regular season and are heading into Saturday loaded with confidence.

    “The difference today was that (Niwot) didn’t hit it like they normally do,” coach Tom Fobes said. “Will (Amen) just did a great job (on the mound) and when you can hold them to four runs it’s pretty good and we finally got guys on base and came up with those big hits.”

    Longmont’s win over Niwot sets up a true semifinal game between the Trojans and Green Mountain at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. The winner of that game will face Niwot at 12:30 p.m. for the 4A state championship.

  • Rocky Mountain rallies to remain in 5A baseball driver’s seat

    Rocky Mountain Cherry Creek baseball
    More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

    DENVER — Rocky Mountain is sitting pretty as the Class 5A state baseball championship series enters its final day.

    The Lobos ran their winning streak to 17 games with a come-from-behind 8-6 victory Friday against Cherry Creek in the first of two 5A games at All-City Field. Rocky Mountain (20-5 record) eliminated the Bruins (19-6) from the tournament. More importantly for the Lobos they stayed undefeated in the double-elimination tournament.

    Rocky Mountain continues its quest for its first state baseball title since its four-peat from 2007 to 2010 at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 24, back at All-City Field. The Lobos will face Regis Jesuit (21-4). The Raiders would have to defeat Rocky Mountain twice Saturday for Regis to capture its first state baseball title since winning in 2011.

    Rocky Mountain Cherry Creek baseball
    Rocky Mountain junior Garrett Hammer (18) watches his two-run home run clear the fence at All-City Field on Friday in the first inning. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss)

    If Regis defeats Rocky Mountain in the 10 a.m. game the second game Saturday would start shortly after the conclusion of the morning game.

    “You don’t want to say ‘relaxed,’” Rocky Mountain senior Trevor Thomas said of the Lobos’ mentality being in the driver’s seat. “We are still going to play a really good team. We’ll go out there and play as hard as we can.”

    Thomas got Rocky Mountain’s offense going early against Cherry Creek. The Lobos’ designated hitter had a two-out, two-run single in the first inning to get Rocky Mountain on the board. Junior Garrett Hammer proceeded to follow with a two-run home run, giving the Lobos a 4-0 lead.

    Cherry Creek chipped away and took a 5-4 lead in the top of the fourth inning on a successful squeeze bunt by senior Sean Robinson.

    Bruins junior Cody Wood pitched well after a rough first inning.

    “After that first inning I thought we could just repeat and repeat, but you have to hand it to their pitcher (Wood),” Thomas said. “He settled in. We knew it was going to be a tough game.”

    Rocky Mountain senior Carl Stajduhar got the Lobos’ rally going in the bottom of the fifth inning with a long solo home run to tie the game at 5. Back-to-back singles by senior Tyler Stevens and Thomas put Rocky Mountain in the position to capitalize on a critical throwing error.

    With two outs Nathan Elsheimer ground back to the Cherry Creek pitcher Justin Jeronimus. The senior pitcher ran halfway to first base, but then threw the ball over the Bruins’ first baseman. Rocky Mountain scored two runs on the throwing error to take a 7-5 lead.

    “We got a break right there, but we also had some good at-bats to get into position to take advantage of that break,” Rocky Mountain coach Scott Bullock said.

    Rocky Mountain Cherry Creek baseball
    Cherry Creek shortstop Jack Hallmark, right, waits for a throw to second base as Rocky Mountain senior Trevor Thomas slides into the base Friday at All-City Field. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss)

    Cherry Creek scored a run in the top of the sixth inning, but Rocky Mountain closer Cory Richer recorded the final three outs in the seventh inning to get the save. Junior Chase Ottofy picked up the victory on the mound. Ottofy, who hadn’t pitched in more than a month, took the mound in the fifth inning for starter Marc Bachman.

    “We have a ton of confidence in our pitching depth,” Bullock said. “This is the time of the year when it shines.”

    The Lobos will have Stevens and Stajduhar both ready to pitch Saturday. The two have combined for 11 wins on the mound and both have ERAs under 3.00 this season.

    Stevens gave Rocky Mountain an insurance run Friday going to the seventh inning against Cherry Creek with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth.

    “We are just going to try and continue to play good baseball,” Bullock said going into Saturday’s action. “We understand that the only thing we have to do is play team baseball and compete.”

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    Regis Jesuit 5, Mountain Vista 1

    It took just one swing of the bat for Regis Jesuit to earn a date with Rocky Mountain on Saturday.

    With Mountain Vista and Regis tied 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Regis senior Reagan Todd crushed a first-pitch fastball off Mountain Vista ace Nick Leonard in the bottom of the seventh inning with the bases loaded. The lefty’s shot sailed over the right field fence for a walk-off grand slam home run.

    “The at-bat before Leonard gave me a first-pitch fastball that I missed,” Todd said after the dramatic 5-1 victory for Regis. “I knew I wouldn’t let it happen again.”

    Todd raced around the bases and was greeted by some overjoyed teammates knowing their hopes for a state championship were still alive.

    Regis Jesuit Mountain Vista baseball
    More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

    Brooks Urich started the seventh-inning rally with two out. Urich tripled to put the winning run on third base. Mountain Vista then intentionally walked Max George and Justin Thaxton to load the bases before the walk-off slam.

    Regis senior lefty David Peterson, who missed six weeks this season with a broken leg, was able to outduel Leonard to keep the Raiders in the tournament. Peterson pitched a complete-game with 10 strikeouts for the win.

    Peterson admitted the plan was he wouldn’t take the mound in the top of the eighth inning if it went extra innings. Leonard had seven strikeouts while giving up just five hits.

  • Holy Family, Eaton to play for 3A baseball championship

    (Bethany Brookens/CHSAANow.com)
    (Bethany Brookens/CHSAANow.com)

    GREELEY — It will be a rematch of their showdown last weekend when Holy Family and Eaton face off Saturday morning for the Colorado Class 3A state baseball title.

    The two teams met May 17 in the double-elimination bracket with Holy Family taking an 8-5 victory.

    Holy Family remained the tournament’s only unbeaten team by eliminating Lamar on Friday 9-7.

    Just when it looked like the Tigers were going to enter Saturday’s championship playing a winner-take-all match for the state title, they gave themselves a buffer. Holy Family scored four runs in the top of the  inning to overcome a two-run deficit.

    The Savages (19-6) took the lead on a three-run fourth inning highlighted by Brent Crampton’s three-run double.

    Savages starting pitcher Darin Cook went into the seventh inning but gave up a double to open the frame. He gave way to Braden Forney, who gave up back-to-back singles before leadoff hitter Conor Stanley, who deposited a 1-0 pitch over the leftfield fence for the final margin.

    “I hadn’t done enough all game,” Stanley said. “I was just looking to get that run home.”

    Eaton, meanwhile, set the tone from the outset in its game with Faith Christian, scoring four runs in the top of the first inning.

    “If you’re going to be the visitor, you’d better come out and attack them,” Reds coach Jim Danley said.

    The key blow was a two-run single by Ryan Koehler, who would add a two-run double in the second to give the Reds a 6-2 advantage.

    The rest was up to Eaton starting pitcher Jake Nelson, who held the Eagles scoreless after the first inning.

    “He had a very solid outing,” Danley said of Nelson giving up two runs on seven hits, four strikeouts and just two walks.

    Koehler finished with four hits and five RBI.

    “You can’t really mess around with a team like that,” he said of his fast start against Faith Christian.

    Holy Family coach Erik Nakagana said his team wanted to enter Saturday unbeaten, meaning they would need to lose twice to not win a title.

    “You want to play with that momentum,” he said.

    Danley has a lot of respect for Holy Family, which has only one loss on the season.

    “I’ve seen college teams that can’t hit like that,” he said of the Tigers’ potent lineup.

    By getting Nelson to pitch into the seventh inning, “The rest of our (pitching) staff is clear,” Danley said.

    Eaton is confident it came win two games against the Tigers.

    “It’ll be a fun game,” Koehler said.

  • Photos: State baseball tournaments narrow their fields

    DENVER — The 5A and 4A state baseball tournaments narrowed their fields during action on Friday.

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    Rocky Mountain 8, Cherry Creek 6


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    Regis Jesuit 5, Mountain Vista 1


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    Green Mountain 7, Durango 6


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    Longmont 11, Niwot 4

  • Replay: Coverage of the state baseball championships

    A replay of live coverage from the state baseball tournaments as championships were up for grabs in Class 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A on Saturday.

    More:

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  • Holy Family’s huge seventh inning leads to 3A baseball title

    Holy Family Eaton baseball
    More photos. (Pam Wagner)

    GREELEY — In the end, that potent Holy Family machine was just too powerful.

    The Tigers won their last Class 3A state title Saturday with an 8-2 victory over Eaton.

    Holy Family will move up to the 4A classification next season. The title was the Tigers’ second consecutive and third in five years.

    Despite the final score, Eaton didn’t make it easy on Holy Family.

    The Tigers (24-1) handed Eaton its only loss of the season a week before in the playoffs and entered the game as the tournament’s only unbeaten, meaning Eaton had to defeat them twice to win the title.

    Holy Family scored twice in the top of the third inning. Eaton answered with a run of its own, then tied the game on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth.

    Holy Family Eaton baseball
    More photos. (Pam Wagner)

    That’s when Holy Family, with a potent battling lineup from top to bottom, went to work.

    “We told them to ride the wave,” Tigers coach Erik Nakayama said of surviving the shifts in momentum.

    “We just said, ‘One pitch at a time, one hit at a time,’” Tigers No. 3 hitter Devlin Granberg said.

    With one out, Matt Erb singled up the middle. A throwing error on a ground ball to try and force Erb went awry. Austin Brown then walked to load the bases.

    That set the table for Granberg, who singled home two runs. Zach Trombley, Zach Dedin and Jake Tinnon followed with RBI hits and Holy Family had quickly scored six runs in the inning.

    That left it in the hands of Brown, the Tigers’ junior starting pitcher.

    Brown, who threw a complete game, gave up just three hits, although he walked six, including two in the bottom of the seventh.

    “I was trying to be a bit too careful,” he said.

    Brown said he wanted the ball in his hands to start the title game.

    “I think all of us are competitive,” he said of the team mentality of wanting that pressure in a title game.

    Granberg expected a tough battle from the Reds.

    “I thought it would be a grind,” he said. “We showed how much heart we have.”

    As for moving up a classification next year, on top of losing 11 seniors to graduation, Holy Family is ready for the challenge.

    “We’re all excited about the opportunity to go against 4A competition,” Brown said.

    Nakayama said because of the high amount of seniors on the team, several underclassmen who would have normally played at the varsity level were forced to play JV this season.

    “We challenged them,” he said.

    That challenge will again be issued next February at the start of spring practice. Then again, the players know what is expected of them.

    “The legacy’s been set,” Nakayama said.

    Holy Family Eaton baseball
    More photos. (Pam Wagner)

  • Green Mountain rides Schaller to 4A baseball title

    LAKEWOOD — Never has the old adage that “baseball is a game of inches” been more true.

    Just over 24 hours ago, Green Mountain catcher Justin Akiyama took a 2-2 pitch that was just off the plate. If called a strike, the Rams would have lost to Durango and been eliminated from the Class 4A state baseball tournament. Instead they celebrated as state champions Saturday afternoon with a 10-2 win over the Niwot Cougars.

    They earned the right to play the Cougars after defeating Longmont 9-1 in the preliminary game Saturday morning. They did so behind the solid pitching performance of junior Talon Schaller. He threw a complete game, giving up only two hits and a single run against the Trojans. He was so efficient in the first game that Rams coach Brad Madden didn’t hesitate to send Schaller out to start the championship game.

    “He looked so good in the first game and only threw 72 pitches, mowing through (Longmont) pretty easily,” Madden said. “We knew we were going to have to use him again anyways so we figured with only the half-hour break (between games) let’s just run him out there and (score) as many as we could and he just started mowing them down.”

    Between the two games, Schaller threw 12 innings, giving up four total hits and one run on the day. He only surrendered a single walk between the two games. He had to be pulled after the fifth inning of the state championship game due to CHSAA rules limiting a pitcher to 12 innings in a 72-hour span.

    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Prior to his last inning, the Rams bats gave him a big enough cushion to put Schaller in line for his second win of the day. A single and a walk put runners on first and second with sophomore Wyatt Featherston stepping up to the plate. He worked the count full then blasted a home run to left-center to put the Rams up 4-0.

    “I knew it was out of the ballpark, I felt amazing about it,” Featherston said. “I knew I needed to drive in my buddies and I looked for my pitch and I got one, driving it out of the yard and it felt amazing.”

    Schaller finally gave way to Josh Ramirez who threw a complete game against Durango on Friday, and although he gave up two runs in the final two innings, he never let the Cougars get comfortable and was able to slam the door shut for the Rams.

    As solid as the Rams were on the mound, the Cougars never looked comfortable. Green Mountain was able to chase off Niwot ace Bryan Meek in the fifth inning. The sixth inning turned into a nightmare for the Cougars who gave up six runs — four of which were walked in either Nick Elrod or Aldair Cintora.

    But the rally aside, the Rams are state champions because of the solid performance of Schaller through the two games.

    “I’m just happy to be out here, man — what a day,” he said after the game. “Coach didn’t really tell me what the plan was, but I knew I was going to pitch two and then Josh would finish. He just told me to give it my all and I was just happy to be there.”

    The win is a nice send off for the three seniors in the Green Mountain lineup. Since Akiyama’s walk-off hit Friday, the Rams have been energized and borderline destined to walk away as champions.

    “That’s kind of the way we’ve been living our last four weeks, we’ve been down to our last out and our last strike,” Madden said. “Our kids will not give up. They will keep fighting and keep fighting.”

    The Rams will lose three starters from their roster as Akiyama, Andrew Abercrombie and Josh Rogers have all graduated. But the core of this championship team in Schaller, Ramirez, Schaller and shortstop Cole Shetterly will all return next season to try and defend their title.

    “It’s a tribute to them and the great leadership that they brought to us,” Madden said. “Next year is a new year and we’ll get back at it in the summer and fall but for right now we’re going to enjoy this for at least the next six months.”

  • Rocky Mountain reaches 5A baseball pinnacle again

    Rocky Mountain Regis Jesuit baseball
    More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

    DENVER — Rocky Mountain staked claim to its fifth Class 5A state baseball title over the past eight seasons Saturday afternoon at All-City Field.

    The Lobos defeated Regis Jesuit 6-5 to give Rocky Mountain its first baseball championship since its four-peat from 2007 to 2010. Rocky Mountain (21-5) closed out its season on an 18-game win streak, including a 5-0 record in the double-elimination state championship series.

    “It feels amazing,” Rocky Mountain coach Scott Bullock said. “I think the thing that makes it feel most amazing is it’s a whole new bunch of kids. Great group of kids that put in a tremendous amount of work to get to this point.”

    Despite grabbing a 6-0 lead with a six-run top of the third inning, the Lobos ended up having to hang on by the skin of their teeth. Regis (21-5) actually had the tying run on third base and winning run on second base with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning.

    A Raiders’ win would have forced a second game Saturday at All-City with the winner of that game hoisting the state title. However, Rocky Mountain senior pitcher Tyler Stevens dug deep to get the final two outs.

    “Once they got the bases load with two outs and I had two strikes on (Quin Cotton) I knew I had to make a pitch,” said Stevens, who took over on the mound for Rocky Mountain in the fourth inning. “I just threw as hard as I could and got the groundout.”

    Cotton grounded into a fielder’s choice as Lobos’ shortstop Daniel Ciraula was able to field the grounder and toss to second baseman Dean Lawson to get the force out to end the game.

    “I love all my teammates,” a teary-eyed Rocky Mountain senior Carl Stajduhar said after getting a hug from his dad. “To go out senior year like this is just awesome.”

    Rocky Mountain scored all of its six runs in one inning. The Lobos’ bats came alive in a big way in the top of the third inning. The Lobos plated six runs on five hits to jump out to a 6-0 lead.

    Stajduhar started the scoring with a two-run single. Rocky Mountain scored a third run on the hit on a fielding error.

    Rocky Mountain Regis Jesuit baseball
    More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

    “I knew with the bases loaded and Carl coming up we were going to score. That was huge,” Stevens said. “We just kept plugging and chugging to get our six runs which happened to be enough.”

    Stevens and Kyle Reisman followed up with back-to-back RBI singles to push the lead to 5-0. Regis starting pitcher Brent Schwarz was relieved on the mound by Zach Heath after the single Reisman. The Lobos’ final run in the six-run inning came on a passed ball.

    Regis was able to get on the board with an RBI sacrifice fly by senior Reagan Todd in the bottom half of the third inning. However, Stajduhar was able to limit the damage to just one run thanks to a pair of strikeouts after the Raiders loaded the bases with no outs.

    The Raiders tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth inning after Stevens relived Stajduhar on the hill. Zach Woodruff led off the inning with a double and scored on a double play ground out, cutting Rocky Mountain’s lead to 6-2.

    Regis continued to chip away at Rocky Mountain’s lead. Todd belted a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning making it a 6-4 game. Todd ripped a walk-off grand slam home run Friday against Mountain Vista in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Regis a 5-1 victory.

    “When we started getting momentum I even liked our chances better even if we were behind,” Regis coach Matt Darr said. “I felt like we would come back and win that game. I really did.”

    An RBI single by Brooks Urich in the bottom of the sixth inning cut the lead to 6-5, but the Raiders couldn’t plate the tying run. Stevens forced a pop up by Max George and struck out Justin Thaxton with runners at the corners to end the inning.

    Despite scoring five unanswered runs, the Raiders left 11 runners on base and wasn’t able to take full advantage of seven walks.

    Bullock admitted after the victory he didn’t know who would have thrown a second game Saturday if Regis had completed the come-from-behind win. Marc Bachman, Chase Ottofy and Cory Richer pitched in Friday’s win against Cherry Creek.

    “It was rolling the dice. No question about it,” Bullock said about throwing his two best pitchers in Stajduhar and Stevens. “I felt like we did such a good job in the third inning to get the lead. We wanted the ball in Tyler’s hands and it was the time to go to him.”

    Heath’s performance on the mound allowed the Raiders to rally. Heath came in during the Lobos’ six-run third inning and only gave up two hits in four and two-thirds on the hill.

    “In that situation where you fall that far behind you feel like you need somebody to come in and hold them at six (runs),” Darr said. “You feel if they get any more it would be nearly impossible.”

    The nearly impossible comeback by Regis nearly happened, but in the end the Lobos were able to take another state championship baseball title back to Fort Collins.

    “It’s amazing. This program needed it after last year,” Stevens said of losing to ThunderRidge in the title game. “We wanted to do it and we did it finally.”

    Rocky Mountain Regis Jesuit baseball
    More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)