LAKEWOOD | At a key juncture in Friday morning’s scoreless Class 5A Championship Series contest, Charlie Boyd guessed he would get a fastball.
The Cherokee Trail senior second baseman’s hunch was right and he drove a fastball over the fence in left field at All-Star Park for a home run that would prove to be the only run scored as the 25th-seeded Cougars prevailed over third-seeded Regis Jesuit in a well-played pitching duel.
Sophomore Carter Wilcox worked out of a jam in the first inning and made that one run of support stand up with a complete game two-hitter with nine strikeouts.
The victory kept coach Jon DiGiorgio’s Cherokee Trail alive in the double-elimination tournament and moved them into a 12:30 p.m. contest against fifth-seeded Rock Canyon with the winner advancing to a championship matchup with Valor Christian Saturday.
The Cougars get a chance for some revenge against the Jaguars, who dealt them their first loss of the tournament (7-2) on May 27.
Regis Jesuit, meanwhile, finished 2-2 in the tournament and had its season end at 20-9.
Senior Nate Lewis and junior Andrew Bell had the only hits for coach Matt Darr’s Raiders, who were shut out for the third time on the season.
Regis Jesuit had a chance to get on the board in the bottom half of the first inning when sophomore Christian Lopez and junior Brody Chyr both walked, then stole second and third, respectively, with one out. Wilcox got an infield pop-up and a strikeout to end the inning, however.
The game remained deadlocked until the fourth inning when Boyd homered on an offering from Regis Jesuit senior left-hander Jack Carey, who was the hard-luck loser as he allowed just three hits and one run in five innings of work.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2023 CLASS 5A BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (SEMIFINAL GAME)
June 2 at All-Star Park
(25) CHEROKEE TRAIL 1, (3) REGIS JESUIT 0
Score by innings:
Cherokee Trail 000 100 0 — 1
Regis Jesuit 000 000 0 — 0
REGIS JESUIT (ab-r-h-rbi)
Christian Lopez cf 2-0-0-0, Andrew Bell ss 3-0-1-0, Brody Chyr rf 2-0-0-0, Brien Kenny 3b 3-0-0-0, Evan Di Tanna 3b 2-0-0-0, Grant Gedrose 3-0-0-0, Trevor Nordstrom DH 3-0-0-0, Nate Lewis lf 3-0-1-0, Jack Carey p 1-0-0-0, Jace Filleman ph 1-0-0-0. Totals 24-0-2-0. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Jack Carey (L, 5-3-1-1-3-4), Luke Reasbeck (2-1-0-0-0-2)
CHEROKEE TRAIL (ab-r-h-rbi)
Akoi Burton lf 2-0-0-0, Bowen Tabola c 3-0-1-0, Tommy Munch 1b 2-0-0-0, Braedan Reichert ss 3-0-1-0, Charlie Boyd 2b 3-1-1-1, Brody Ceyrolles 3b 3-0-0-0, Zach Garcia dh 3-0-1-0, Johnny Robledo cf 2-0-0-0, Mason Grube ph 1-0-0-0, Colton Gray rf 3-0-0-0. Totals 25-1-1-1. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Carter Wilcox (W, 7-2-0-0-2-9)
HR — Cherokee Trail: Charlie Boyd (solo in 4th inning)