CLASS 1A BASEBALL WEEKLY REPORT by Kerry Sherman

CLASS 1A BASEBALL WEEKLY REPORT

BY: KERRY SHERMAN

With the new season almost a month old, we take our first look at the district races in Class 1A. All rankings are from Thursday morning’s release of the CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index.

DISTRICT ONE

Dove Creek (12^th) took a pair of wins over #23 Nucla on Tuesday, 11-2 and 15-5, pushing the Bulldogs over .500 on the season at 3-2. Both of their losses were by one run in extra innings. Cael Beanland has 10 of the team’s 47 stolen bases.

Since opening the season with a 3-2 win over Monticello (UT), Nucla is just 1-5-1, with three straight losses. Steele Arnold leads the Mustangs with a .476 average and the senior has posted a 2.49 ERA in 19.2 innings, with 36 strikeouts.

Neither Dove Creek nor Nucla plays any of the other three teams in District 1 during the regular season. Sierra Grande has only played one game so far, so the Panthers aren’t ranked in the Seeding Index. Centennial (21^st) is off to an 0-2 start, while Antonito (25^th) is 2-3. Steven Velasquez picked up his first four career RBI on Tuesday, as Antonito broke a three-game slide by beating Sargent 12-2. The Trojans stole 16 bases in that win, five by Dylan Gray.

Sierra Grande will be busy in the next week, playing four games between Thursday and next Tuesday. The Panthers start with a doubleheader on Thursday against Manzanola (28^th). The only district contest in the next week will have Antonito hosting Centennial on Tuesday.

DISTRICT TWO

Four of the five teams in District 2 sat inside the top-15 of the Seeding Index on Thursday morning, with only Cripple Creek-Victor not being ranked. The Pioneers have not played a game yet. Elbert (10^th) is just ahead of Simla (11^th), with Evangel Christian sitting 14^th and Kiowa 15^th.

Elbert has not played since March 23^rd when the Bulldogs picked up an 11-1 non-league victory over ECA. Logan LaFollette allowed one unearned run on a hit in five innings. The senior struck out 10 and walked one. ECA pitchers issued 11 free passes in the loss. Those two programs meet again on Thursday, with the contest counting in the district standings.

ECA tuned up for the rematch by drilling Calhan 28-7 on Tuesday. Andrew Stephenson went 5-5, hitting for the cycle and driving in 14 runs. The Eagles benefited from six Calhan errors.

With Simla’s deep run in basketball, the Cubs took some lumps early in the baseball season, starting 0-4. That includes losses to the top two teams in 2A, Peyton and Limon. They’ve since run off two straight wins, including a 4-3 decision over 2A #18 Buena Vista. The Cubs travel on Saturday for a huge doubleheader with #3 Flatirons Academy.

Kiowa got off to a 2-0 start before running into 2A #11 Front Range Christian last Friday. The Indians were blanked 20-0 while being held to two hits. Five errors led to six unearned runs in the loss.

Along with the aforementioned key matchups, next Tuesday will have district clashes between Simla and Cripple Creek-Victor, as well as Kiowa and Elbert.

DISTRICT THREE

State basketball impacted the start of the season for Flatirons Academy, as the Bison began the year 0-2, but have since won their last three. Those two losses were against the fifth and sixth-ranked teams I 2A, Dawson School and Lyons. Despite missing the opener, Jude Meyer leads the team with seven RBI.

The only other team in the district is Rocky Mountain Lutheran (16^th), who enters Thursday’s game against Flatirons Academy at 0-2. It’s the first game for the Eagles since a 7-6 loss to Dawson School three weeks ago. Jones Stephenson was a single shy of hitting for the cycle in that defeat.

DISTRICT FOUR

The top of the standings in District 4 is loaded with highly-ranked teams, as McClave (5^th), Stratton (6^th), and Holly (8^th) all occupy spots in the top-10 of the Seeding Index. Eads (13^th), Wiley (17^th), Baca County (18^th), and Cheyenne Wells (20^th) give the district seven of the current top-20.

Stratton, Eads, and McClave are all unbeaten in district play and the first meeting between any of the three is still more than a week away. Stratton is already 4-0 in the district, with the most recent win coming on Tuesday 15-0 over Granada. Making his first pitching start of the season, Ethan Bohnen threw a no-hitter, allowing two walks and striking out eight. The Eagles have a doubleheader on Thursday at #4 Otis.

McClave, led by Cope Meston’s .667 average and nine RBI, visits Baca County on Thursday for two. Baca County dropped both ends of a doubleheader against Stanton County (KS) on Tuesday, 2-1 and 5-3. Gunner Mackey either leads the Wolverines in every offensive category or is second, including stolen bases, where he has seven.

Eads and Holly both recently got back in the win column. For the Eagles, Brentley Lening drove in three runs to lead the way against Wiley last Friday. Eads won 13-2. Holly outscored Manzanola 17-3 on Tuesday and Crowley County 13-6 on Wednesday to snap a two-game skid. Eads hosts Cheyenne Wells for a doubleheader on Friday, and Baca County for two next Tuesday. The Wildcats are off until Tuesday, when they travel to Wiley.

DISTRICT FIVE

The top-10 of the Seeding Index is littered with teams from District 5, including #1Akron, #2 Merino, and #4 Otis. Haxtun (7^th) and Prairie (9^th) give the district half of the top-10. Five of Akron’s games have been decided by two runs or less. The Rams are 4-1 in those contests. Brandon Hellyer and Anderson Filla have each stolen 11 bases.

Merino is also quite familiar with close games early in the season, with the Rams going 3-2 in contests decided by three or fewer runs. Their 12-2 win over Wray in the second game of a doubleheader last Saturday snapped a string of four straight such games. Merino has won four in a row overall. Josiah Mackintosh threw a three-hitter to beat Wray 1-0 in the first game of that doubleheader. He punched out a dozen.

The twin bill against Stratton will be the first action for Otis since suffering a 9-8 loss to Akron last Tuesday. The Bulldogs were their own worst enemy in that loss, committing seven errors, issuing eight walks, hitting two batters, and throwing three wild pitches. They had scored 43 runs in sweeping Peetz just a few days earlier.

Prairie has feasted on Weldon Valley (29^th) to open its schedule, as the Mustangs have gone 3-0 against the Warriors, outscoring them 64-6 along the way. They’ve hit nine triples, two apiece by Brennan Bringelson, Wyatt Chase, Wyatt Butler, and Dylan Chase. The Mustangs will face their first big test of the season on Thursday, as they visit Haxtun. That outing is followed by a pair of doubleheaders against Peetz, at home on Friday and on the road next Tuesday.

Haxtun has shown an ability to put up a lot of runs in the first few weeks of the season, with the Fightin’ Bulldogs averaging just a tick under 10 a game. More than half of their 39 runs came in a 23-20 loss to Holyoke in the second game of a DH two weeks ago. They committed eight errors, walked 19, hit five, and allowed 21 stolen bases in that contest. Kash Workman collected four of his team-leading seven RBI in that loss. After hosting Prairie on Thursday, the Fightin’ Bulldogs will visit Yuma for two on Saturday.