A year later, the Cherokee Trail and Regis Jesuit baseball teams will meet again to determine which Aurora program’s season is over and which one continues for at least one more game.
The 25th-seeded Cougars and third-seeded Raiders came face-to-face in last season’s Class 5A Championship Series on the elimination side of the bracket and that will be the case again they take the field at All-Star Park June 2 as the double-elimination tournament reaches its final weekend.
The difference between this meeting and last (won by Cherokee Trail) is that it comes in the semifinals, but regardless it will end a season for one.
For the victor of the game scheduled for 10 a.m. June 2 at All-Star Park, it removes an obstacle that stands in the way of a run at another state championship (Cherokee Trail has two all-time with the last coming in 2016, while Regis Jesuit has three all-time and last won in 2019).
The winner must contend with No. 5 Rock Canyon in a 12:30 p.m. elimination contest, while No. 15 Valor Christian — which went 3-0 on the opening weekend — awaits the winner of that game at 10 a.m. June 3. A win by the Eagles in that game would end the tournament, but the teams would play again at 12:30 p.m. if Valor Christian loses.
The toughest part about the closing weekend for the teams that aren’t in Valor Christian’s position is having enough effective pitching to make it through four games in two days against quality opposition if either Cherokee Trail or Regis Jesuit is going to win a title.
The Cougars and Raiders may deploy their aces — Logan Reid for Cherokee Trail and Hudson Alpert for Regis Jesuit — in the elimination game and then rely on every other available arm to get through the rest of the tournament.
Coach Jon DiGiorgio’s 25th-seeded Cherokee Trail team — which lost to Legacy by a run last season with a chance to face Broomfield for the state championship on the line — finished 2-1 in the opening weekend of this Championship Series and the tone was set by Reid in the May 26 opener.
Just three days after the junior left-hander had pitched a complete game to lead the Cougars to a regional upset win over No. 8 Legend, Reid battled for 5 2/3 innings in a 5-4 win over defending state champion Broomfield. Sophomore Ethin Woltz got the last four outs to preserve the win.
“I think it lets everyone know what we’ve got,” Reid said after he improved to 4-2 overall with a 3.05 ERA. “There are definitely people out there doubting us. People told us we shouldn’t be here and that fired us up.”
Sophomore Carter Wilcox and senior Tommy Munch threw the second game for Cherokee Trail, a 7-2 loss to Rock Canyon, but both have proven they can be effective. Junior Keegan Eberly shook off the rust of three weeks without pitching to give several key innings of work in the Cougars’ 9-4 elimination win over Chaparral May 27.
Cherokee Trail’s offense is not the most explosive one among the four teams remaining as it scored 16 runs in three games (Valor Christian tallied 34, Regis Jesuit 25 and Rock Canyon 12), but the Cougars put up nine in their final game (courtesy of three, three-run rallies) and had many good at-bats.
Coach Matt Darr’s Regis Jesuit team was at its best with Alpert on the mound, as the freshman right-hander threw a complete-game two-hitter in a 9-1 win over Chaparral May 26. Alpert has been simply outstanding with a record of 7-0 and a 1.78 ERA.
Senior left-hander Jack Carey has had an outstanding season, but lost for the first time since April 3 when he surrendered nine hits and eight runs in an 11-1 loss to Valor Christian May 27. Junior Liam Mosley also pitched against the Eagles, who scored in double digits against all three of their opponents on the opening weekend.
Sophomore Luke Reasbeck got pressed into a relief stint May 27 in Regis Jesuit’s elimination game against No. 13 Mountain Vista, but didn’t have to throw lights out over his 3 1/3 innings of work given the Raiders’ offensive prowess. A 12-run third inning helped Regis Jesuit earn a 15-5 win in a game shortened by the 10-run mercy rule.
With help from that effort, Darr’s team had the second-most prolific offense in the opening weekend with an attack that was led by junior shortstop Andrew Bell.
Bell homered twice in three games with a two-run shot against Chaparral and a grand slam against Mountain Vista and finished with nine RBI between the three games. Bell and junior outfielder Brody Chyr (who drove in three runs on the weekend) had four hits apiece among the three games.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
