LITTLETON | Cherokee Trail is a team built for success in the double elimination Class 5A Baseball Championship Series in large part because of pitching depth.
The Cougars (17-4) will get to see if their arms can help propel them to a state championship, as they earned a trip to this season’s Championship Series by winning Saturday’s 5A District 3 tournament at Heritage High School.
Coach Allan Dyer’s 13th-seeded Centennial League champion Cherokee Trail team needed to use just three pitchers — starters Conner Nantkes and Jerome Bohannon and reliever Keven MackIntosh — to get through 14 innings of district play in which they allowed a combined total of just four runs to make the 5A Championship Series for the first time since the 2011 season.
The Cougars join three other Centennial League teams — Grandview, Mullen and Cherry Creek — among the final eight teams remaining alive for the Championship Series, which opens May 20.
In the District 3 championship game, Nantkes delivered the clinching effort in a 2-1 upset of No. 3 Heritage, as he outdueled Eagles sophomore Riley Egloff in a complete game effort.
The junior left-hander allowed just four hits and an earned run in seven innings and struck out six to get the better of Egloff, who held the Cougars’ potent lineup to just five hits and struck out 11.
Nantkes helped his cause offensively as he had two of Cherokee Trail’s hits, while junior Nick Perez delivered his team’s only RBI.
In an opening 8-3 win over 20th-seeded Broomfield, Bohannon settled down after he allowed two runs in the first inning and turned in 5 2/3 innings of work with eight strikeouts before he turned it over to MackIntosh, who struck out three of the final four batters to end it.
Cherokee Trail had more than enough offense against Broomfield, as Michael Morris and Eric Cox each drove in two runs and Matt Meraz and Travis Lynch homered in a nine-hit attack.
Full Class 5A district baseball tournament results, here.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
2016 CLASS 5A DISTRICT 3 BASEBALL
May 14 at Heritage High School
Championship game
(13) CHEROKEE TRAIL 2, (3) HERITAGE 1
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Cher. Trail 001 010 0 — 2 5 0
Heritage 001 000 0 — 1 4 2
WP — Cherokee Trail: Conner Nantkes (7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K). Cherokee Trail hitting: Conner Nantkes 2-3; Nick Perez 1-2, 3B, RBI; Eric Cox 1-3; John-Michael Osley 1-3; Jerome Bohannon 0-3, run; Trey Smith 0-0, run
First round
(13) CHEROKEE TRAIL 8, (20) BROOMFIELD 3
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Broomfield 201 000 0 — 3 7 0
Cher. Trail 003 104 x — 8 9 0
WP — Cherokee Trail: Jerome Bohannon (5 2/3 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K). Cherokee Trail hitting: Eric Cox 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, run; Travis Lynch 2-3, HR, RBI, run; Michael Morris 1-3, 3B, 2 RBI, run; Matt Meraz 1-2, HR, RBI, 2 runs; Conner Nantkes 1-4, RBI; John-Michael Osley 1-2, run; Ryan Sullivan 1-3, run; Nick Perez 0-2, run
