LAKEWOOD | The Regis Jesuit baseball team tried to turn the tables on Cherry Creek in a Class 5A Championship Series rematch, but ultimately ended up with the same result May 31.
On the same field at All-Star Park where they lost twice to the Bruins to see the 5A state championship slip away a year earlier, the sixth-seeded Raiders tried return the favor, though they were unable to do so in a 8-1 loss to No. 2 Cherry Creek.
A day after Regis Jesuit eliminated No. 5 Broomfield and No. 1 Grandview, coach Matt Darr’s team threw virtually every arm it had left — four in all — but was unable to hold off the Bruins, who had a week to prepare and were fully set up with their pitching rotation by virtue of winning all three of their games on the opening weekend.
“Things were overly stacked against us,” Darr said. “I knew going it was going to be a monumental task to beat their 1 and 2 (pitchers), but we kept competing and it was a great run for us. …Hand it to them, they are a fantastic team.”
Regis Jesuit — which remains in search of the program’s fourth all-time state championship and first since 2019 — finished the season 22-9.
The Raiders had averaged around six runs per game in their previous five Championship Series contests and were hitting as well as they had all season in Darr’s estimation, but managed to plate just one against three Cherry Creek pitchers, starting with University of Michigan recruit Wyatt Rudden.
Rudden, who was the winning pitcher against Regis Jesuit in the first championship game in 2024, posted back-to-back strikeouts in the top of the first inning after seniors Christian Lopez and Nick Wiley had reached base to keep Regis Jesuit off the scoreboard. Putting something up with an opening rally would have been pretty significant in Darr’s mind.
“I thought we had to get a little bit of a lead early and start to put some pressure on them, but it was tough when we didn’t,” Darr said. “Then they got a couple in the second and built on it in the third. When it was five, the mountain got a lot bigger and it felt like a lot against Rudden.”
The Raiders trailed by five runs before they got on the board in the third when Lopez — who had three of the team’s five hits — singled, moved to third on junior Chase Massey’s sacrifice bunt and scored on a wild pitch.
They threatened again in the fifth as they loaded the bases with one out, but Rudden struck out pinch-hitter Deion Cesario-Scott and got senior Luke Reasbeck to ground into a force play to end the inning. Regis Jesuit would strand six runners in scoring position in the contest against three different pitchers.
“That’s one of the hardest things, when you get so close to scoring and you end up striking out two times in a row or you get hits that don’t get a run in,” Regis Jesuit senior outfielder Gavin Cronin said. “It kindof degrades the mood, but you have to push through it. We have to think ‘we’ll do it the next inning’ or something will fall or he’ll make a bad pitch.”
Junior ace pitcher Hudson Alpert exited the first game of the Championship Series back on May 23 with an arm injury and tried to work himself back, but was unable to go on the final day. Regis Jesuit also could not use Reasbeck or standout sophomore Mikey Kroll, who both turned in crucial complete game efforts the previous day against Broomfield and Grandview, respectively.
“He’s a competitor and it definitely hurts basically losing a full game of pitching,” Reasbeck said of Alpert. “It seems like every time he goes out there, he throws the whole game and we win. So losing seven innings of pitching at this point is definitely tough to deal with. Our pitchers still competed.”
Darr agreed that having a healthy Alpert — who threw a complete game against Mountain Vista in the Region 6 championship game to help his team advance and has a 4-1 record with sub-2.00 ERA in five Championship Series contests — would have made a difference, whether he was deployed on the first day or the second.
“Losing Alpert was a big blow,” Darr said. “You throw him in the mix this weekend and I think that gives us enough to where we at least go to a second championship game and what happens then, who knows.”
In the semifinals, Regis Jesuit got a quality effort from Kroll (who allowed just three hits and a single run against Grandview) and Darr turned to another sophomore, Ryan Neumann, for the start in the championship game.
Neumann had logged just 17 innings all season and faced a selective Cherry Creek team that makes pitchers throw a lot of pitches and capitalizes on the mistakes.
True to form, the Bruins put up two runs in the second inning against Neumann — though a double play turned by sophomore shortstop Brady Wright and junior second baseman Chase Massey took some energy out of the rally — then added three more against junior Alexander Denny in the third with four hits and a sacrifice fly.
Cherry Creek loaded the bases in the fifth against sophomore Cade Filleman and got two more runs, while it added one more in the sixth for good measure.
Regis Jesuit left two runners on in the sixth as well as the seventh, when sophomore Diesel Bernosky tripled and Reasbeck drew a walk before Cronin popped out to shallow right field to end the game.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing, but we fought our hardest,” Reasbeck said. “We did everything we could to get here and I don’t question our team’s fight, but it’s obviously tough to chew on.”
Added Cronin: “We worked so hard since last year and losing to the same people is tough. It’s just a lesson in life, that sometimes it’s not always going to go your way. It will be a matter of how the guys below us come back and we’re hoping the next guys can bring it home. Every year, we keep getting closer to a state title, so we’re hoping eventually it will come.”
While Cherry Creek graduates a group of 12 seniors who were integral to the back-to-back titles, Regis Jesuit suffers losses of its own in players such as Lopez — a four-year varsity player who was part of 20 Championship Series games over his career and is headed to Cal State Bakersfield — Cronin (Air Force), Wiley (Anderson University) and postseason hitting standout Jace Filleman, plus a key arm in Reasbeck (North Greenville University).
Still, all the postseason experience could come into play for a team that had plenty of impact juniors and sophomores. The pitching looks promising if Alpert returns to health to go with Kroll and all of the pitchers who pitched in the championship game, while the hitting lineup could have a lot of continuity.
“You saw it with guys who are seniors this year like Reasbeck, Wiley, Lopez, who played a lot of playoff games; you could tell,” Darr said. “You hope that happens with these younger guys and they are better equipped for next year.”
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2025 CLASS 5A BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
(2) CHERRY CREEK 8, (6) REGIS JESUIT 1
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Regis Jesuit 001 000 0 — 1 5 1
Cherry Creek 023 021 x — 8 9 0
REGIS JESUIT (ab-r-h-rbi)
Christian Lopez cf 4-1-3-0, Chase Massey 2b 2-0-0-0, Nick Wiley c 2-0-1-0, Jacob Olson lf 3-0-0-0, Diesel Bernosky 3b-p 3-0-1-0, Deion Cesario-Scott ph 1-0-0-0, Luke Reasbeck dh 2-0-0-0, Gavin Cronin rf 2-0-0-0, Jace Filleman 1b 3-0-0-0, Brady Wright ss 2-0-0-0, Isak Stevenson ph 1-0-0-0. Totals 25-1-5-0. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Ryan Neumann (L, 2-1-2-2-3-0), Alexander Denny (2 1/3-4-3-3-0-4), Cade Filleman (1-4-3-3-2-1), Diesel Bernosky (2/3-0-0-0-0-1)
CHERRY CREEK (ab-r-h-rbi)
Ari Rothman lf 4-2-3-0, Connor Larkin 1b 4-1-2-0, Mason Scott 3b 3-1-1-1, Sean Goldy ss 4-2-2-0, Lucas Schultz dh 2-1-1-1, Tyce Smith rf 1-0-1-3, Walker Rudden 2b 2-0-0-0, Eli Rose c 1-0-0-0, Cooper Campbell ph 1-0-0-0, Owen Elser cf 3-0-0-0, Tyson Thome cr 0-1-0-0. Totals 25-8-10-5. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Wyatt Rudden (W, 5-3-1-1-6-8), Max Goldberg (1-0-0-0-1-2), Anthony Graziano (1-1-0-0-1-0)
2B — Regis Jesuit: Christian Lopez. Cherry Creek: Lucas Schultz. 3B — Regis Jesuit: Diesel Bernosky
