Rye is ranked No. 1 in 2A, but doubt from outside has followed the team this season. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he clouds hung in the sky, building from an encampment just above the mountains. They were dark, swirling, ominous — visual reminders of the doubt that seems to follow the Rye baseball team this season.
The rain, lightning — or whatever those clouds were to bring last Friday — held off, long enough anyway, for Rye to polish off another mercy-rule-shortened win, this one an 11-0 affair against Denver Christian.
The Rye Thunderbolts — yes, it is apt — are now 14-0, and ranked No. 1 in Class 2A for the second week in a row.
Their .433 team batting average is fourth in 2A, their offense has scored 173 runs (third-best in 2A), and they have a 0.68 ERA, which is far and away the best in 2A, and also leads the entire state regardless of classification.
Organizations make mercy rules for teams like Rye. And, in fact, all but one of their wins have ended because of CHSAA’s mercy rule — which dictates that a game ends if one team is leading by 10 or more runs after five innings. The only game that didn’t go five innings was a 7-6 win over Trinidad, a 3A program, on March 21.
And this is actually where one seed of doubt creeps in. This schedule Rye is playing in 2015 isn’t exactly, well, tough. Opponents so far are a combined 81-122 this season. Rye does play at No. 9 Swink (11-5) on Tuesday afternoon, but then closes the season with a double header against John Mall (3-11) on Saturday.
Led by a duo of Trent Hughes and Luis Ortiz Jr., Rye has the best team ERA in the state. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Against this schedule, Rye pitcher Trent Hughes has thrown three no-hitters, including Friday’s win at Denver Christian.
“You’ve got to consider the level of competition we’re facing,” the senior said after the game. “There’s not many really, really good 2A teams. You do have (Resurrection Christian) and all them, but you have (other) teams, and they’re having a rebuild year, which is tough for them. Yes, (three no-hitters) is special, but no it’s not at the same time. It’s kind of weird.”
There are 47 teams in 2A. According to MaxPreps’ strength-of-schedule rating, Rye’s slate is the 27th-toughest in the class.
It’s not exactly what a team looking to challenge for a title wants.
“You kind of want those close games,” said second-year coach Stacey Graham. “It helps you mentally, and it helps you get through that adversity when the time does come again when it really counts — you know, regionals, districts.”
Rye’s average margin of victory this season is 14.4 runs per game. Yes, that absolutely speaks to the level of talent on this team. And yes, make no mistake, this team is good. Very, very good.
But a team’s mind could absolutely wander in the fourth inning of a 12-run game.
“It’s hard to stay focused the entire season,” said Luis Ortiz, Jr., a senior known simply as “Junior” to his teammates. “We work on it in practice where we’re just constantly doing something at all times. It gets us prepared for games like that, where we’re sitting there in the hot sun, and we’re up 12-0, 15-0, and it’s kind of hard to stay focused. Because we know later in the season, we’re not going to be doing that to teams.”
“I talk to them about it on a regular basis,” Graham said. “Even as a coach, it’s tough to stay focused when a game is at this point. … These guys, they’re pretty focused. They know what we have here, and what we could potentially could do.”
Rye may try to schedule a scrimmage or two with 3A or 4A teams after the regular season ends to get the team an extra look at tougher pitching, close situations, or any other form of adversity they can get their hands on.
“I want those close games, because it’s going to make us a better team,” Graham said.
Again, this team is already good. Even with a light schedule, the cream rises to the top.
Hughes is now 4-0 with a 0.32 ERA. He has struck out 51 batters, and walked just two. Two. (He’s also hitting .647 with a team-best 24 RBIs.)
Ortiz is 4-0 and hasn’t allowed an earned run in 21 2/3 innings. He has struck out 37 against just six walks.
At the plate, Ortiz has a team-best four home runs to go along with a .435 average and 22 RBIs.
“They’re both phenomenal,” Graham said. “They’re both great players.”
Both are headed to play college baseball, Hughes to Northeastern Junior College, Ortiz to Lamar Community College.
Seven players in this lineup are hitting above .400. Six have driven in at least 10 runs. That includes Bailey Benz and his .595 average and 22 RBIs.
Remember, this is a program that won a title in 2011, arising from “basically nothing 10-12 years ago,” as Ortiz put it. It has been one of 2A’s most consistent programs, reaching at least the semifinals for four consecutive seasons.
And here’s where another seed of doubt, one of those lingering clouds, enters: Rye has lost in the semifinals each of the past three seasons. And you bet they’ve heard all about it from everyone in their area, or in nearby Pueblo.
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“There’s all this talk that we can’t finish, that we choke in the playoffs,” Hughes said. “Honestly, I try to talk to the guys and have them use the haters as motivation. You take that with a grain of salt, and you go, ‘We’re not that team. We know our team, and they don’t know it.'”
“Those past experiences have been our main motivation this year,” Ortiz added. “I like to hear some of the people down in that area chirp at us that we’ve been there, and we can’t get past that game. I like the little extra motivation that it gives us to keep moving forward and keep playing hard.”
Rye’s going to keep bucking the doubt. But Graham doesn’t really want zeroed-in on the semifinals, or losing in the semifinals. Not yet.
“I try to make sure that they’re not focused on that,” the coach said. “Especially right now. We don’t need to be focused on that. We need to be focused on tomorrow.”
Thing is, this group’s focus has been on tomorrow since the 2014 season ended. They hit the weight room hard in the offseason, and were even thinking baseball while playing other sports.
“Some of us played basketball,” Ortiz said, “but even during basketball season, we’d go in and throw bullpens and hit. We went into Pueblo every Friday morning. We’ve done a lot of preparation to this point. It’s definitely showing.”
So maybe the clouds of doubt will continue to hold off, stuck swirling behind those mountains. Or maybe they’ll move in. Maybe Rye doesn’t care about the clouds anymore. Maybe they’re only there to push them forward.
What if lightning strikes, a thunderbolt lighting up its immediate area? It’s usually heard for miles around.
