DENVER | A key member of last season’s Class 5A state championship run has Regis Jesuit in position for another.
Senior right-handed pitcher Peter Bayer tossed 7 innings of two-hit baseball Friday afternoon, helping the Raiders post a 4-0 victory over Legend in a 5A baseball championship series contest at All-City Field.
Shortstop Brody Weiss homered to cap a two-run first inning that got Regis Jesuit off to another strong postseason start and Bayer and the slick-fielding defense behind him never let the Titans — who were 3-0 on the first weekend of the double-elimination tournament — into the game. Bayer struck out four and worked around two walks and a pair of hit batters by inducing 12 groundball outs.
Sophomore second baseman Max George had two hits and saved the shutout with a key backhanded defensive play in the fifth inning and senior right fielder Jordan Kennedy drove in an insurance run with a 7th-inning double as the Raiders posted their 20th victory of the season and will be in action at noon Saturday against Cherry Creek, which beat Highlands Ranch 3-2 in extra innings in elimination game.
“We knew we were going to win this game; we had confidence playing against Legend before and our goal is to play them again,” said Bayer, who got his second win of the season over the Titans. “We have to get to that point now.”
Regis Jesuit would get a rematch with Legend at 4 p.m. with the 5A state title on the line if it can beat Cherry Creek in a rematch of last season’s championship game won by the Raiders. Meanwhile, the Titans suffered their first loss in 14 games since an 11-3 defeat at the hands of Regis Jesuit on April 11 in Continental League play.
George set the tone of the contest in the top of the first inning with a first-pitch single up the middle against Titans starter Brooks Trujillo and promptly stole second base. Joey Larson sacrifice George to third base and he came home with the first run when Legend catcher Mickey Peterson’s return throw to Trujillo sailed into the outfield. Weiss subsequently homered to left field to give Bayer all he would need.
Andrew Schmidt singled and scored on a pair of wild pitches in the second inning against the lackadaisical Titans, who mustered just a single by Mike Baird in the first two innings. Bayer lost some command in the third inning after striking out the first two hitters, as he hit Connor Orgill and Tanner Thompson and walked Bobby Dalbec to load the bases. He induced cleanup hitter Jake Jenkins into a groundout to Weiss to end the threat.
Trujillo reached on an error to open the fifth and pinch runner Collin Ross advanced to second on a sacrifice, but Orgill flew out to center field for the second out. Thompson grounded a ball up the middle that might have brought home a run, but George made a backhand stop while going all the way to the ground, popped up and threw Thompson out at first base to end the inning.
“That stop just totally changed the momentum of the game,” Bayer said.
After Kennedy’s RBI double made it 4-0 by bringing home Larson, Bayer issued a leadoff walk to Baird to begin the bottom of the seventh inning, but got Adam Ausmus to ground to Larson, who combined with George and first baseman Reagan Todd on a 5-4-3 double play to wipe the bases clean.
Trujillo got the second hit of the game with two outs, but Weiss ranged into the outfield to track down Peterson’s pop-up for the final out of the game.
Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at [email protected] or 303-750-7555
REGIS JESUIT 4, LEGEND 0
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Regis Jesuit 210 000 1 — 4 7 1
Legend 000 000 0 — 0 2 3
REGIS JESUIT (ab-r-h-rbi)
Max George 2b 3-1-2-0, Joey Larson 3b 3-1-2-0, Brody Weiss ss 3-1-1-1, Jordan Kennedy rf 4-0-1-1, Pat Dinges cf 4-0-0-0, Reagan Todd 1b 3-0-0-0, Andrew Schmidt lf 3-1-1-0, Eric Brunts dh 3-0-0-0, Pat Powers c 2-0-0-0, Brooks Urich cr 0-0-0-0. Totals 28-4-7-2. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Peter Bayer (W, 7-2-0-0-2-4).
LEGEND (ab-r-h-rbi)
Connor Orgill lf 2-0-0-0, Tanner Thompson 2b 2-0-0-0, Bobby Dalbec ss 2-0-0-0, Jake Jenkins rf 3-0-0-0, Tyler Honahan 1b 3-0-0-0, Mike Baird 3b 2-0-1-0, Adam Ausmus dh 3-0-0-0, Brooks Trujillo p 3-0-1-0, Collin Ross pr 0-0-0-0, Mickey Peterson c 2-0-0-0. Totals 22-0-2-0. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Brooks Trujillo (L, 7-7-4-2-3-4).
2B — Regis Jesuit: Jordan Kennedy. HR — Regis Jesuit: Brody Weiss (solo in 1st inning)
