LAKEWOOD | The Grandview baseball team had its opportunities against Centennial League rival Cherry Creek Friday afternoon at All-Star Park, but couldn’t break through in a 4-1 loss in the championship bracket of the Class 5A Baseball Championship Series.
The Wolves had the same number of hits as the Bruins — they had six apiece — but Cherry Creek’s made more of them, including a two-runner home run by junior Connor Larkin in the fifth inning that basically sealed the result.
Grandview suffered its first loss in the double-elimination tournament and moves into an elimination contest scheduled for noon Saturday at Denver’s All-City Stadium, where it will face the winner of the prior game between No. 7 Fort Collins and No. 19 Horizon. The winner of that matchup joins three others teams in the final weekend.
Coach Scott Henry’s Grandview team lost to Cherry Creek 11-0 during Centennial League play, but it was a much tighter affair in the rematch.
The Wolves got on the scoreboard first against Bruins’ starter Ryan Falke, as designated hitter Easton Flores came across the plate on a base hit by senior center fielder Tucker Smock in the top of the second inning. Cherry Creek countered with a run in the bottom of the frame against Grandview junior lefty Nick Martensen.
The fourth inning proved pivotal in the contest, as Grandview looked to break through again when Flores singled to open the inning and junior Chase Chapman drilled a ball down the right field line for extra bases.
Had the ball stayed in play, Flores likely would have scored and Chapman would have had a triple, but umpires sent the runners were sent back to second and third, respectively, as the ball bounded off the artificial turf and made it over the fence for a ground rule double. Falke got a fielders choice as Flores was thrown out at home plate, a strikeout and grounder to shortstop to get out of the inning unscathed.
Cherry Creek would not be denied in the bottom of the fourth, however, as Mason Scott legged out an infield single and eventually scored on a base hit by Eli Rose. The Bruins added two more in the fifth on Larkin’s two-run blast to deep right center.
Smock and senior Collin May both reached to open the top of the seventh for Grandview against reliever Cameron Larson, but the next three hitters were unable to get the ball out of the infield.
Martensen — who earned a complete game win over Eaglecrest in the Region 1 championship game to get the Wolves into the Championship Series — pitched all six innings and allowed four runs on six hits to move to 3-3 on the season.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2024 CLASS 5A BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
(5) CHERRY CREEK 4, (16) GRANDVIEW 1
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Grandview 010 000 0 — 1 6 0
Cherry Creek 010 120 x — 4 6 0
GRANDVIEW (ab-r-h-rbi)
AJ Maroni 3b 4-0-2-0, Tony Crow ss 4-0-0-0, Jax Pfister 1b 3-0-0-0, Easton Flores dh 2-1-1-0, Chase Chapman 2b 2-0-2-0, Brock Johnston rf 3-0-0-0, Tucker Smock cf 1-0-0-1, Collin May c 3-0-1-0, Kyle Cacciavillani lf 2-0-0-0. Totals 24-1-6-1. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Nick Martensen (L, 6-6-4-4-2-2)
CHERRY CREEK (ab-r-h-rbi)
Brayden Yasuzawa 2b 3-1-1-0, Connor Larkin 1b 3-1-1-2, Eddie Esquivel cf 3-0-0-0, Will Taylor dh 3-0-0-0, Mason Scott 3b 2-2-1-0, Sean Goldy ss 3-0-0-0, Tyce Smith rf 2-0-0-0, Eli Rose c 2-0-1-1, Luke Rose 2-0-2-1. Totals 23-4-6-4. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Ryan Falke (W, 6-5-1-1-2-6), Cameron Larson (Save, 1-1-0-0-1-0)
2B — Grandview: Chase Chapman. HR — Cherry Creek: Connor Larkin (one on in 5th inning)
