AURORA | District baseball tournaments can be terrifying for top seeds.
Two of the top eight teams that had hosting duties for Saturday’s district round felt the pain of upset losses on their home fields and the other six had their fair share of tense moments against hungry underdogs.
Second-seeded Regis Jesuit was no exception, but managed to find different ways to beat No. 31 Westminster (3-0) and No. 18 Castle View (5-4) to advance to the double-elimination Class 5A championship series, which it missed out on last season. Coach Matt Darr’s 18-3 Raiders — who now own a 15-game winning streak — open the championship series May 17 against Rocky Mountain.
In the District 5 title game, senior Anthony Donovan singled and came around to score on sophomore Quin Cotton’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth inning and reliever Zach Woodruff coaxed a game-ending 6-4-3 double play turned by senior shortstop Max George and Donovan at second base.
While the offense took awhile to get going in the early game until Cotton hit a tie-breaking two-run home run and Justin Thaxton added a solo shot, junior starter Brent Schwarz was in command on the mound.
The right-hander spun a complete-game two-hit shutout against Westminster, highlighted by an unofficial school record with 15 strikeouts.
Current senior David Peterson — who pitched five shutout innings in the second game against Castle View — and 2012 graduate Peter Bayer held the previous mark with 14 apiece.
Schwarz struck out the side in the fifth and sixth innings and then matched and tied the record by striking out the first two Wolves in the top of the seventh inning.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentine.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel
2014 CLASS 5A DISTRICT 5 BASEBALL
Saturday at Regis Jesuit H.S.
Championship: (2) REGIS JESUIT 5, (18) CASTLE VIEW 4
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Castle View 000 004 0 — 4 4 0
Regis Jesuit 013 001 x — 5 8 0
REGIS JESUIT (ab-r-h-rbi)
Quin Cotton lf 2-0-1-1, Brooks Urich cf 3-0-1-0, Max George ss 1-1-0-0, Justin Thaxton dh-p 4-1-1-1, Jack Brett c 3-0-0-0, Matt Schmidt 3b 2-1-1-0, Reagan Todd 1b 3-0-1-0, Anthony Donovan 2-2-2-1, Zach Woodruff rf-p 2-0-1-0. Totals 22-5-8-3. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): David Peterson (5-2-0-0-2-6), Zach Heath (2/3-2-4-3-1-0), Justin Thaxton (W, 1/3-0-0-0-2-1), Zach Woodruff (Save, 1-0-0-0-0-1).
WP — Regis Jesuit: Justin Thaxton (1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, K)
Opener: (2) REGIS JESUIT 3, (31) WESTMINSTER 0
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Westminster 000 000 0 — 0 2 0
Regis Jesuit 000 021 x — 3 6 0
REGIS JESUIT (ab-r-h-rbi)
Quin Cotton lf 3-1-1-2, Brooks Urich cf 3-0-1-0, Max George ss 2-0-0-0, Justin Thaxton dh 3-1-2-1, Jack Brett c 3-0-0-0, Matt Schmidt 3b 3-0-1-0, Reagan Todd 1b 3-0-0-0, Anthony Donovan 2b 3-0-1-0, Zach Woodruff rf 1-1-0-0. Totals 24-3-6-3. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Brent Schwarz (W, 7-2-0-0-0-15)
2B — Regis Jesuit: Matt Schmidt, Brooks Urich; HR — Regis Jesuit: Quin Cotton (1 on in 5th), Justin Thaxton (solo in 6th)
