Wild Card points help determine the postseason fields in 3A, 4A and 5A, with 4A and 5A also using them for seeding. Find a more detailed breakdown here.
Baseball’s Wild Card point standings for April 17 are below.
It was the fifth-straight game the Knights’ lineup had produced dougle-digit runs, led by Jeff Clarke’s two home runs and four RBIs. Tim Ryan was 4-for-4 with two doubles.
Ryan Kokora threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings in picking up the win, and gave up just three hits. He struck out six against five walks.
Fairview, and shortstop Cameron Frazier (3) are No. 4 in this week’s 5A baseball poll. (Dennis Pleuss)
Perhaps no win was bigger for Fairview in recent years than last Thursday’s decision over then-No. 5 Rocky Mountain.
But the win for the Knights was just one-fourth a tough 4-0 week last week, and now they find themselves ranked No. 4 in this week’s CHSAANow.com Class 5A baseball poll. Fairview was seventh last week.
The Knights are actually 7-0 in Colorado, with the lone loss coming in Arizona during a Spring Break tournament. Their lineup has produced double-digit scoring outputs the past four games.
ThunderRidge remained in its top spot in the 5A ranking, where it has been since the preseason. Regis Jesuit stayed at No. 2, and Chatfield held firm at No. 3.
Behind Fairview, Columbine rounds out the top five.
Ralston Valley is No. 6, Mountain Vista is No. 7 and Arapahoe is No. 8. Rocky Mountain dropped to No. 9 after going 1-2 last week.
Chaparral is the lone newcomer to 5A this week. The Wolverines rejoined the poll at No. 10.
Elsewhere, Swink took over the top spot in the 2A ranking. At 9-0, Swink moved up from No. 2. Former No. 1 Resurrection Christian dropped to No. 3.
The 2A poll added Kiowa (No. 8) this week.
The other No. 1 teams remained the same. Those are Montrose (4A), Holy Family (3A) and Stratton (1A).
The 4A poll has two new teams this week: Wheat Ridge, which joined all the way at No. 5, and Elizabeth, which is No. 7.
Cherry Creek 16, Central (G.J.) 10, Fruita Monument 6, Legacy 4, Rock Canyon 3, Dakota Ridge 2, Pine Creek 2, Brighton 1.
Dropped out
Dakota Ridge (10).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Montrose (5)
9-2
112
1
1-1
2
Niwot (4)
10-1
106
4
3-0
3
Windsor (4)
12-1
101
2
3-0
4
Delta (1)
11-1
77
5
0-1
5
Wheat Ridge
7-2
64
–
3-0
6
Lewis-Palmer
8-3
50
9
3-0
7
Elizabeth
10-1
41
–
3-0
8
Valor Christian
7-5
38
3
0-2
9
Evergreen
7-2
36
10
3-0
10
Palmer Ridge
8-3
31
7
3-1
Others receiving votes:
Pueblo Centennial 19, Longmont 17, Air Academy 16, Ponderosa 12, Mesa Ridge 10, Mountain View 9, Skyline 7, Pueblo East 4, Canon City 3, Falcon 3, Pueblo West 2, Widefield 2, Durango 1, Green Mountain 1, Pueblo South 1.
Dropped out
Longmont (6), Falcon (8).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Holy Family (6)
12-0
85
1
4-0
2
Eaton (3)
8-0
84
2
1-0
3
Faith Christian
9-1
67
3
4-0
4
Gunnison
10-0
49
7
3-0
5
Valley
10-1
46
5
2-1
6
Cedaredge
11-0
41
6
2-0
7
Lamar
9-3
38
4
2-2
8
University
7-2
28
9
1-1
9
Brush
7-1
24
–
4-0
10
The Classical Academy
7-2
18
8
3-1
Others receiving votes:
Bayfield 14, La Junta 1.
Dropped out
Bayfield (10).
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Swink (3)
9-0
63
2
4-0
2
Rye (1)
9-1
55
4
3-0
3
Resurrection Christian (2)
8-2
52
1
2-1
4
Hotchkiss (1)
11-2
42
7
2-0
5
Peyton
9-1
39
6
2-1
6
Sedgwick County
7-1
36
8
2-0
7
Lutheran
5-4
21
5
2-1
8
Kiowa
7-3
15
–
5-1
9
Limon
6-3
13
10
1-1
10
Denver Christian
4-3
11
3
2-1
Others receiving votes:
Haxtun 6, Holyoke 6, Dolores 5, Front Range Christian 5, Lyons 5, Sierra Grande 4, Byers 2, Nucla 2, Rocky Ford 2, Yuma 1.
Dropped out
Ignacio (9).
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Stratton (5)
5-1
50
1
1-1
2
Granada
3-2
40
3
0-1
3
Elbert
5-1
38
2
1-0
4
Caliche
5-6
29
4
2-0
5
Eads
4-7
28
7
2-1
6
Briggsdale
5-4
20
–
3-1
7
Community Christian
5-5
15
6
2-0
8
Peetz
1-2
14
8
0-1
9
Fleming
3-3
11
10
0-0
10
Dove Creek
2-8
9
9
0-2
Others receiving votes:
Cornerstone Christian 7, County Line 7, Holly 3, Manzanola 3, Cotopaxi 1.
Broomfield moved up to No. 3 in the 4A girls soccer poll. (Pam Wagner)
Arvada West and Arapahoe both joined this week’s CHSAANow.com Class 5A girls soccer ranking.
A-West joined at No. 9, while Arapahoe is No. 10. Both teams went 3-0-0 last week.
Mountain Vista retained its spot atop the ranking, which makes sense considering the Golden Eagles are unbeaten and topped No. 2 Rock Canyon last week.
Rock Canyon remained at No. 2, Pine Creek stayed put at No. 3, and Fossil Ridge held at No. 4. Fairview rounds out the top 5.
The rankings’ other two No. 1 teams, Cheyenne Mountain (4A) and Kent Denver (3A), also stayed put this week.
FORT COLLINS — Rick Harig, Fairview’s baseball coach, was trying to remember the last time his Knights beat Rocky Mountain during the high school season.
“We beat them once last summer and we lost to them several times last summer, but in the spring it’s been awhile,” Harig said. “When (Rocky Mountain coach Scott) Bullock got here, they’ve been solid for that many years.”
The powerhouse Rocky program claimed four state titles in a row from 2007-10, have won Front Range League championships in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013, and produced a pipeline of college talent under Bullock’s watch since 2002.
It’s probably fair to say that several teams around the state also wonder when they last defeated the powerful Lobos.
Fairview wondered no more with an impressive 10-7 road win over No. 5 Rocky at Gabe Pando Park in Fort Collins Thursday afternoon.
The Knights, ranked No. 7 in this week’s CHSAANow 5A baseball poll, had an offensive explosion in the third inning with nine runs, all against one of Rocky Mountain’s best arms in Carl Stajduhar, a New Mexico commit.
The Knights started the inning with a bit of luck as Rocky Mountain’s shortstop, Tyler Stevens, bobbled the flip from second baseman Dean Lawson, ending a chance at a double play. Leadoff man Cameron Frazier, who had two hits in third and started 3-for-3 at the plate Thursday, scored on the miscue.
The floodgates opened as the Lobos recorded three errors in the inning and gave up back-to-back doubles to Jacob Thoning and Tobiah Armstrong. Stajduhar gave up six runs — four earned — and eight hits before exiting in the third.
Before Rocky knew what hit it, literally and figuratively, it was 9-0 Fairview.
“They opened the door by not turning the double play and then we scored nine runs after,” Harig said about the wild inning. “Baseball’s a funny game, but we still have to score nine runs. We produced when we had an opportunity. We had to keep them off-balance, because they can really swing it.”
The Knights took advantage of the offensive fireworks in the third and starting pitcher Ryan Kokora kept the Lobos guessing with a mixture of pitches.
(Brock Laue)
“He threw a lot of off-speed just because they had shown that they’re going to tee up on people, so we kind of pitched backwards to them a little bit,” Harig said of Kokora. “He threw a lot of curveballs in fastball counts and just tried to keep them off-balance. It worked pretty well.”
Kokora gave up four runs in the third, but struck out eight batters, mostly on change-ups and curveballs, and limited Rocky’s traditionally powerful lineup to only five runs.
The Lobos are now 0-2 in the Front Range, 3-5 overall but 2-2 against in-state teams. They boast six Division I signees in their senior class, including one of the premier players in Colorado — Stajduhar, a powerful hitter who went 3-for-4 at the plate with three scorching doubles.
Still, they could never overcome their early deficit.
Rocky Mountain did chip into the lead throughout and made a final push as one of Stajduhar’s doubles brought speedy Lawson home to make it 10-6 Fairview in the sixth. Tyler Stevens, another New Mexico commit, hit a deep sac fly to bring Kyle Reisman in to score, cutting the lead to three runs.
But Fairview’s Mike Vlasity, a side-armer, got the Knights out of the inning and then proceeded to sit down three batters in a row in the seventh, two by strikeout, to seal one of the bigger wins for Fairview baseball in recent years.
Fairview improved to 2-0 in the Front Range League and 9-1 overall. Its lone loss on the season came at the hands of an Arizona team in an out-of-state tournament. They also beat Fossil Ridge on Tuesday, 19-8, and are starting to make noise in the 5A ranks.
Both players and coach know the season is still young though.
“We’ve got a big string of tough games,” Harig said. “We just played Fossil, now we played (Rocky Mountain), we play Monarch, and we play Legacy. So we really feel like the first four games are the toughest stretch for anybody. We’ve got two under our belt and we’re trying not to look too far ahead and just focus on Saturday now, which is Monarch. They’re a good team.
“We’re not trying to look too far ahead. There’s way too many good teams that will stick it to you,” Harig added. “We just want to keep getting better and putting ourselves in a good position to be in a good seed, make the playoffs, that kind of thing.”
“They’re just solid overall, hitting, defense, pitching,” Frazier said of Rocky Mountain, “so it’s really good confidence-wise for us to get a win like this. It kind of sends a message to all the other teams in the state that we’re for real this year, but it’s also just another win in the league and they’re all important.”
Wild Card points help determine the postseason fields in 3A, 4A and 5A, with 4A and 5A also using them for seeding. Find a more detailed breakdown here.
Baseball’s Wild Card point standings for April 9 are below.
WESTMINSTER — A number of meet records fell at the Mustang Track & Field Invitational on Saturday, which drew 25 different teams from across the state to 1STBANK Field.
Mountain Range hosted the event.
Niwot’s girls won with a total of 88 points. Monarch was second with 69, and Denver East was third with 68.
Regis Jesuit’s boys won with 70 overall points. Highlands Ranch and Monarch tied for second with 63 each, while Boulder was fourth with 64.
Chatfield is No. 3 in this week’s 5A baseball poll. (Pam Wagner)
Chatfield’s off to an unbeaten start in 2014. And its charge up the rankings continued on Monday.
The Chargers, now 9-0, moved up to No. 3 in CHSAANow.com’s Class 5A baseball poll this week. They only joined the poll a week ago.
ThunderRidge remained on top of the 5A ranking, a spot it has occupied since the preseason. The Grizzlies got seven of the 11 first-place vote.
Regis Jesuit moved up to No. 2 from No. 4. Ralston Valley is fourth this week, and Rocky Mountain rounds out the top five.
Columbine bumped up one place from No. 7 to No. 6, Fairview went from No. 10 to No. 7 and Arapahoe held firm at No. 8.
5A’s two newcomers this week are No. 9 Mountain Vista and No. 10 Dakota Ridge.
In 4A, Montrose remained at No. 1, and continued to be followed by No. 2 Windsor and No. 3 Valor Christian. Niwot made a big jump from No. 8 to No. 4, and Delta went from No. 7 to No. 5.
New to the 4A poll this week are No. 9 Lewis-Palmer and No. 10 Evergreen.
Holy Family continued to lead the 3A ranking, which added No. 6 Cedaredge, No. 7 Gunnison and No. 10 Bayfield.
The 2A poll added Sedgwick County at No. 8. Resurrection Christian stayed at No. 1.
In 1A, Stratton remained on top. That poll added No. 8 Peetz.
Cherry Creek 10, Grand Junction 8, Chaparral 6, Fruita Monument 6, Central (G.J.) 5, Grandview 4, Northglenn 2, Brighton 1.
Dropped out
Grandview (5), Cherry Creek (9).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Montrose (7)
8-1
96
1
3-1
2
Windsor (1)
9-1
82
2
4-1
3
Valor Christian
7-3
74
3
4-2
4
Niwot (2)
7-1
69
8
2-0
5
Delta (2)
11-0
59
7
5-0
6
Longmont
6-2
44
4
3-1
7
Palmer Ridge
5-2
30
9
3-2
8
Falcon
4-3
26
5
0-3
9
Lewis-Palmer
5-3
24
–
3-3
10
Evergreen
4-2
21
–
2-2
Others receiving votes:
Air Academy 20, Elizabeth 20, Pueblo Centennial 20, Wheat Ridge 15, Ponderosa 14, Mountain View 10, Skyline 8, Mesa Ridge 7, Green Mountain 6, Pueblo East 5, Pueblo West 5, Canon City 3, Broomfield 2, D’Evelyn 2, Steamboat Springs 1.
Dropped out
Air Academy (6), Mountain View (10).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Holy Family (6)
8-0
77
1
5-0
2
Eaton (2)
7-0
74
2
5-0
3
Faith Christian
5-1
60
4
3-0
4
Lamar
7-1
51
3
4-1
5
Valley
8-0
42
5
2-0
6
Cedaredge
9-0
36
–
6-0
7
Gunnison
7-0
32
–
4-0
8
The Classical Academy
4-1
20
8
2-1
9
University
6-1
15
7
4-1
10
Bayfield
7-3
13
–
2-1
Others receiving votes:
Brush 11, Kent Denver 3, Platte Canyon 2, Arrupe Jesuit 1, La Junta 1, St. Mary’s 1.
Dropped out
Brush (6), Kent Denver (9), Basalt (10).
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Resurrection Christian (5)
6-1
55
1
5-1
2
Swink
5-0
45
4
3-0
3
Denver Christian
2-2
42
3
1-1
4
Rye (1)
6-1
39
7
4-1
5
Lutheran
3-3
36
2
1-1
6
Peyton
7-0
30
8
4-0
7
Hotchkiss
9-2
24
9
4-0
8
Sedgwick County
5-1
13
–
5-1
9
Ignacio
3-2
12
10
1-1
10
Limon
5-2
11
5
3-2
Others receiving votes:
Kiowa 7, Rocky Ford 7, Front Range Christian 5, Yuma 4.
Dropped out
Holyoke (6).
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Stratton (4)
4-0
49
1
3-0
2
Elbert
4-1
41
2
1-1
3
Granada
3-1
33
6
3-1
4
Caliche
3-6
24
3
3-6
5
Holly (1)
2-3
22
4
2-3
6
Community Christian
3-5
20
7
1-2
7
Eads
2-6
19
10
2-3
8
Peetz
1-1
14
–
1-0
9
Dove Creek
2-6
12
8
0-2
10
Fleming
3-3
11
5
3-3
Others receiving votes:
Briggsdale 9, Cotopaxi 8, Cornerstone Christian 7, Weldon Valley 3, Walsh 2, Manzanola 1.
Fairview shortstop Cameron Frazier (3) keeps his focus on the ball as Arvada West sophomore Luke Lastoczy slides back to second base during the fourth inning Friday at Arvada West High School. The Knights took a 9-1 road victory in the non-league game. (Dennis Pleuss)
ARVADA — Fairview’s bats wasted no time in getting an early lead and the efficient work of Knights’ junior Ryan Madden on the mound was too much for Arvada West on Friday.
Fairview, No. 10 in the latest CHSAANow.com Class 5A baseball poll, touched up A-West senior pitcher Brody Hagel-Pitt for seven runs on eight hits in the first two innings on the Wildcats’ home field. The Knights (6-1) cruised to an eventual 9-1 victory.
Fairview senior Cannon Casey, right, slides into home during the sixth inning as Arvada West catcher Jesse Klene waits for a throw. (Dennis Pleuss)
“We put 30 pitches or so on his (Hagel-Pitt) arm early. He is a good arm,” Fairview coach Rick Harig said of forcing the Wildcats’ starter to throw more than 30 pitches to get out of the top of the first inning. “Getting four runs set the tone for us. Madden set the tone the other way coming at batters, throwing early strikes and getting ahead. That’s a good combination.”
Senior Jeff Clarke was a main cog for the Knights’ fast offensive start. Clarke began the scoring with an RBI single in the top of the first. He added a two-run double in Fairview’s three-run second inning. Clarke finished the game 3-for-4 with four RBIs.
Madden also had a three-hit game going 3-for-4 with two runs batted in. However, the junior was even more impressive on the mound, allowing just one run and four hits in six innings pitched to pick up his second win this season. Senior Mike Vlasity retired all three batters he faced in the bottom of the seventh inning to close out the victory.
Fairview junior Ryan Madden picked up the win on the mound for the Knights on Friday. Madden allowed one run on four hits while striking out seven in six innings of work against Arvada West. (Dennis Pleuss)
“Jumping on (A-West) with four runs in the first was really big momentum for us,” Madden said. “We kept it rolling through the game.”
After giving up a leadoff double to A-West senior Allen Martin in the bottom of the first inning, Madden retired the next 10 Wildcat batters. Madden had a few innings where he threw single digit pitches and worked extremely fast.
“That’s kind of what I’ve always done,” Madden said of not wasting time between pitches. “It usually works well.”
A-West (5-4) broke up the shutout with an RBI single by junior Shane Hoyer in the sixth inning that drove home Martin. Hoyer and Martin combined to produce the four hits off Madden.
Hoyer was 2-for-2 from the dish. Martin was 2-for-3 from the plate in the loss that ended a three-game winning streak for A-West.
“I think we just have to take this as a learning game,” Martin said. “We started off slow. We need to jump on it from the beginning. We can’t let their pitcher (Madden) do what he did. He just mowed us down.”
Hoyer took over on the mound for the Wildcats in the fourth inning. He allowed two runs on three hits. Clarke and Madden knocked in a run each in the sixth inning to extend the Knights’ lead to 9-0.
A-West coach Matt McDougal was pleased with the work Hoyer did on the mound, but was realistic on where his team sits midway through the season.
Fairview senior Jeff Clarke eyes a foul ball Friday afternoon. Clarke had a big game at the plate going 3-for-4 with four RBIs in the Knights’ 9-1 victory. (Dennis Pleuss)
“We are the type of team right now if we don’t play well we aren’t good enough to win,” McDougal said. “We have to play well. We’ll compete in every game we play well in.”
A-West has two non-league games remaining before diving into its eight-game 5A Jeffco League schedule on April 15 at home against Standley Lake. The Wildcats’ next home game is scheduled for at 4 p.m. Monday against Fredrick.
“League is obviously important, but we don’t want to be playing poorly going into league,” McDougal said.
Fairview will get another taste of a 5A Jeffco team next week. The Knights travel to Bear Creek High School to face the Bears at 4 p.m. Monday before starting their 5A Front Range League schedule.
Fairview hosts Fossil Ridge at 4 p.m. Tuesday to start its conference play. The Knights close next week with league games against Rocky Mountain (Thursday) and Monarch (Saturday).
“Next week is a big week with four games,” Madden said. “It will be a good test.”
Arvada West senior Nick Priola fouls off a pitch Friday against Fairview. The Wildcats’ bats didn’t have much success against the Knights. A-West could only muster up four hits in the 9-1 loss that ended a three-game winning streak for the Wildcats. (Dennis Pleuss)
