LAKEWOOD | By the time Grandview’s Nick Martensen took the mound for the first time Friday morning at All-Star Park, he had a three-run cushion.
The junior left-hander made that early offensive production stand up with a complete game effort that was just what coach Scott Henry’s Wolves needed in a 6-1 victory over Prairie View that pushed them into an afternoon contest with Centennial League rival Cherry Creek in a semifinal of the Class 5A Baseball Championship Series.
Martensen (who improved to 4-3 on the season) scattered seven hits and allowed just a single run over seven innings for Grandview aainst the eighth-seeed ThunderHawks, who were knocked out of the double-elimination tournament.
The 16th-seeded Wolves (19-10), meanwhile, advanced to a 1 p.m. contest against the fifth-seeded Bruins, with the winner set to play second-seeded Regis Jesuit in the 5A state championship game at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Junior Jax Pfister drove in a pair of runs and joined seniors Brock Johnston and Tucker Smock and sophomore AJ Maroni with two hits apiece for Grandview, while junior Chase Chapman and senior Collin May also picked up RBI.
The Wolves set the tone for the contest in the first inning with a three-run rally off Prairie View starter Favi Gaeta, which began with a single by Maroni and a walk to senior Tony Crow. Both runners scored on a double by Pfister, who advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Chapman’s sacrifice fly.
Grandview added single runs in the third (on a bases loaded walk drawn by May), in the fifth off reliever Jerry Stone (Johnston scored on a passed ball) and seventh (Smock stole second and third bases and came home when May walked and got into a rundown to allow him to cross the plate).
Martensen lost his shutout bid in the fifth inning when Prairie View’s Noah Hernandez led off with a single, moved to third on a single by Giovanni Tarin and scored on Gaeta’s fly ball.
Martensen wrapped up an outstanding finish to the season in which he pitched three complete games in the postseason, as he defeated Eaglecrest in the Region 1 championship game and pitched six solid innings in a Championship Series loss to Cherry Creek prior to his win over Prairie View.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2024 CLASS 5A BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
(16) GRANDVIEW 6, (8) PRAIRIE VIEW 1
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Grandview 301 010 1 — 6
Prairie View 000 010 0 — 1
GRANDVIEW (ab-h-r-rbi)
AJ Maroni 3b 4-1-2-0, Tony Crow ss 3-1-1-0, Jax Pfister 1b 4-1-2-2, Easton Flores dh 3-1-0-0, Chase Chapman 2b 2-0-1-1, Brock Johnston lf 4-1-2-0, Tucker Smock cf 4-1-2-0, Collin May c 2-0-0-1, Kyle Cacciavillani rf 3-0-1-0. Totals 29-6-11-4. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Nick Martensen (W, 7-7-1-1-1-5)
PRAIRIE VIEW (ab-r-h-rbi)
Giovanni Tarin c 4-0-3-0, Favi Gaeta p-1b 3-0-1-0, Romani Perez ss 3-0-0-0, Jerry Stone 1b-p 3-0-0-0, Javi Gaeta rf 3-0-1-0, Wyatt Waterhouse 3b 2-0-1-0, Brock Lopez lf 3-0-0-0, Casey Kirkpatrick dh 3-0-0-0, Noah Hernandez 2b 3-1-1-0. Totals 27-1-7-1. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Favi Gaeta (L, 2 1/3-4-4-3-3-2), Jerry Stone (4 2/3-7-2-2-2-4)
2B — Grandview: AJ Maroni, Jax Pfister. 3B — Grandview: Brock Johnston
