LAKEWOOD | Nothing soothes a wound like a state championship.
Denied titles in each of the past two seasons in agonizing fashion, the Regis Jesuit baseball team found a bit of healing Saturday afternoon at All-Star Park with a 5-3 victory over Arvada West.
The Raiders overcame the Wildcats — plus an hour-long lightning delay in the middle of the contest — on their way to the program’s fourth all-time state championship and first since 2019.
“You don’t want to talk about it, but the weight of the last couple of years was heavy,” Regis Jesuit coach Matt Darr said. “Second place is nothing to be ashamed of, but when you get in that situation, you start to feel the weight of it and it gets hard.”
For a full photo gallery from the Class 5A state championship game, click here
Arvada West (26-5) — which was in search of its first state championship since 1994 and made its first state finals appearance since 1995 — certainly made the Raiders sweat out the final day once again.
The Wildcats (which downed Pine Creek 2-1 Friday to advance) forced a second championship game with a 3-2 win in the opener behind star junior pitcher Cooper Vais, but had to reach into its pitching depth for the finale, much like they had a week earlier in the game to determine which team automatically advanced to the final (a 14-8 Regis Jesuit win).
Senior Cole Eisenreich got the assignment and retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the first inning before the Raiders got a two-out rally going after a single from senior Deion Cesario-Scott.
A walk to senior cleanup hitter Hudson Alpert was followed by an RBI single from senior Eli Shappee as Cesario-Scott came around, while junior Brady Wright drew another walk to loaded the bases. Senior Carter Rathburn laced a bases-clearing double to the gap and he later scored on a passed ball to make it 5-0.
That turned out to be all the runs Regis Jesuit would put on the board, but it was enough.
“It was so big for us,” senior catcher Jack Manthey said. “Coming off that really tough loss in the first game, we had to jump on them. That big first inning, with that unreal hit by Carter to clear the bases is really what started us off. We weren’t too productive after that, but that inning right there is the reason we won the game.”
That was due to the pitching efforts of juniors Mikey Kroll and Cade Filleman.
Kroll benefited from the early offensive outburst and pitched four shutout innings to preserve the lead he had been given. He had to come out after a lightning delay arrived just as he was warming up to throw the top of the fifth inning and more than an hour later, Darr gave the ball to Filleman to protect the lead.
“Having that lead early demoralizes them a little bit right away and makes it easier to pitch,” said Kroll, who didn’t walk a batter and struck out four to finish the season 3-1. “If you’re just up one and you give up a run, you’re tied, and then if you give up another, you’re down, but with five it’s a pretty big cushion.
“I wanted to pitch more, so it was disappointing, but at the same time, I know Cade’s a dog, so I wasn’t nervous about it.”
The desperate Wildcats took advantage of the break to get back into the contest and struck for three runs in the top of the fifth with an errant pickoff throw setting things up and two clutch hits to follow as they cut Regis Jesuit’s lead to two runs.
Filleman bore down the rest of the way, however, as he had a clean sixth and navigated the seventh as well, despite two baserunners getting on. Levi Lueck, Arvada West’s most clutch hitter throughout the tournament and with two doubles in three previous at-bats, lofted a shallow fly ball that was caught by a galloping Shappee to end the contest.
“I was like ‘please catch it,’ I just wanted to throw my glove in the air and celebrate with my boys,” Filleman said.
That is exactly what happened, as the Raiders erupted from all of the field, from out of the bullpen and the dugout and met in a dogpile that eventually included every player and coach.
“It’s the best feeling I’ve ever experienced,” Alpert said. “I think partially because of the last two years and watching the other team do it. I was so happy we were finally able to get it done.”
In the opening game of the day, both teams threw their ace pitchers as Alpert opposed Vais in a battle of Division I recruits.
Vais, a University of Texas commitment, kept Regis Jesuit’s potent offense quelled for the most part. He surrendered a ringing double to Regis Jesuit senior Jacob Olson on the first pitch of the game, but let Olson stranded in scoring position. The Raiders didn’t get another runner in scoring position from that point until the fifth inning, when Vais got a double play to escape a jam.
The Wildcats took advantage of some wildness from Alpert (a Vanderbilt signee) in the second inning, as they scored their first run on a bases loaded balk after a single and two walks, while Cameron Thornton delivered another run with a single down the left field line.
Arvada West scored again in the next inning when Vais singled to lead it off and moved up a base with each of the next two hitters, while Lueck knocked him in with a solid single to center.
That last run turned out to be the game-winner, as Regis Jesuit scored twice in the top of the seventh when Alpert doubled and Shappee singled. A passed ball brought home Alpert and Shappee also scored on an overthrow from the catcher.
Rathbun singled and made it to second base as the tying run, but Vais (who was running up against his pitch count) got the final two outs.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
Class 5A Championship Series (championship)
REGIS JESUIT 5, ARVADA WEST 3
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Arvada West 000 030 0 — 3 8 0
Regis Jesuit 500 000 x — 5 6 1
ARVADA WEST (ab-r-h-rbi)
Brayden Reiner c 4-0-1-0, Cooper Vais 2b 4-1-2-1, Beau Friesen rf-p 4-0-1-0, Luke Alonso cf 4-0-1-0, Levi Lueck 1b 4-0-2-1, Holden Goodrich dh 2-0-0-0, Jeremiah Gonzales lf 3-0-1-0, Cameron Thornton 3b 3-0-0-0, Keegan Millikan ss 2-1-0-0. Totals 30-3-8-2. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Cole Eisenreich (L, 2/3-3-5-4-4-0), Jake Richards (3 1/3-2-0-0-1-5), Beau Friesen (2-1-0-0-4-4)
REGIS JESUIT (ab-r-h-rbi)
Jacob Olson cf 4-0-1-0, Chase Massey ss 3-0-1-0, Deion Cesario-Scott 1b 3-1-1-0, Hudson Alpert 2b 3-1-0-0, Eli Shappee rf 4-1-1-1, Brady Wright 3b 1-1-1-0, Carter Rathbun lf 2-1-1-3, Jack Manthey c 1-0-0-0, Alex Hughes pr 0-0-0-0, Greyson Glasheen dh 2-0-0-0. Totals 23-5-6-4. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Mikey Kroll (W, 4-4-0-0-0-4), Cade Filleman (Save, 3-5-3-3-1-2)
2B — Arvada West: Levi Lueck 2. Regis Jesuit: Jacob Olson, Carter Rathbun, Brady Wright
