Half of the four teams left in the chase for the Class 5A baseball state championship hail from Aurora, but the odds are long that the title comes to town.
Top-seeded Grandview and sixth-seeded Regis Jesuit survived the opening weekend of the double-elimination tournament to remain in championship contention, though both face long roads — all of which go through defending champion Cherry Creek — to hoist the winners’ trophy.
Both area teams suffered losses to the second-seeded Bruins in the opening set of games and if either one of them can get past the other remaining team — No. 5 Broomfield — in the May 30 semifinals at All-Star Park, would have to defeat Cherry Creek twice May 31 to take the title.
Grandview enters the final weekend in the best position of the two Aurora programs despite a 7-1 loss to Cherry Creek May 24 at All-Star Park by virtue of wins in its first two games against No. 8 Castle View (5-2) and Broomfield (5-4). Coach Scott Henry’s team is set for a 12:30 p.m. contest May 30 against the winner of a 10 a.m. game between Regis Jesuit and Broomfield.
The Wolves are the only program among the final four that has never won a championship, as they share the semifinals with Cherry Creek (which has nine), Broomfield (which has eight) and Regis Jesuit (which has three), which makes it interesting for them as the top seed.
“There’s many things Grandview has never done before, like going back-to-back in the Final Fours for two years in a row and being the No. 1 seed” senior Chase Chapman said.
“Being No. 1 puts a target on your back for a lot of people, but you just have to realize that they have targets on their backs as well. We’re going to fight you and if we get a punch in the face, we’re going to punch right back.”
That is exactly what the Wolves did against Castle View and Broomfield, which both took multiple-run leads after one at-bat against them, only to have Grandview absorb the early blow and then rally to victory.
The SaberCats benefited from a three-base error on the second hitter of the game to take an immediate 2-0 lead, but didn’t get anything else against junior Ethan Wachsmann, who gave his offense plenty of time to work with six shutout innings to follow. The Eagles then pushed three runs across against senior starter Jax Pfister, but got only one more in the next six innings against Pfsiter and senior reliever Josiah Giron.
“We just always stay locked in on winning, no matter what,” said Pfister, who pitched six strong innings for the win and turned a 3-2 double play with sophomore catcher Kayden Bohmeyer to end the win over Broomfield.
“We could be down by 10 runs and we’re still going to give it 100 percent effort to win because that’s what we want to do. We always say ‘we don’t need it’ when something bad happens. We’re just focused on the next pitch and I think that’s really helped us.”
With the chance to take the driver’s seat for the title, Grandview was unable to rally from a deficit against Centennial League rival Cherry Creek. The Bruins scored four runs with two outs and capitalized on two errant pickoffs, while two pitchers allowed only two hits.
For the weekend, sophomore Matthew Schimberg had four hits, while Chapman was on base frequently and stole three bases with four runs scored, while junior AJ Maroni drove in a combined four runs and senior Justin Dean had three RBI. The Wolves should have all of their pitching available to try to get through three games.
Regis Jesuit’s chances to win the program’s first state championship since 2019 and fourth all-time changed dramatically with a walk-off 4-3 loss to Cherry Creek May 23.
The Raiders — playing in the Championship Series for a fourth straight season — started the opening day with an 11-5 win over No. 3 Arvada West in a game that was highlighted by several multiple-run rallies, including a four-run sixth inning burst that included senior Jace Filleman’s three-run home run.
Regis Jesuit then managed to build a 3-2 lead after six innings against Cherry Creek when senior Isak Stevenson delivered a pinch-hit RBI single to plate Filleman. But the Bruins scored the tying run in the bottom of the seventh on a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded and got a walk-off win on a sacrifice fly.
The Raiders were certainly discouraged, but coach Matt Darr was pleased to see how they bounced back when they faced Continental League rival Castle View May 24 in an elimination game. Regis Jesuit got a go-ahead two-run single from senior Nick Wiley in the bottom of the sixth inning and tacked on two more runs with RBI from senior Luke Reasbeck and sophomore Brady Wright to secure a 9-7 victory over the SaberCats.
“It’s always hard to lose the way we did to Creek and the stakes of that game,” Darr said. “I’m just proud of the kids, we’ve got guys hurt and not 100 percent, but they are competing.”
The Raiders scored 23 runs on 27 hits in three contests — which included three extra-base hits and five RBI from Filleman, plus five hits and three RBI from Wiley and four hits from junior Chase Massey — so they are hitting as well as they have all season according to Darr.
Should that continue, that puts the onus on a pitching staff that may or may not have junior ace Hudson Alpert. Alpert removed himself from his start against Arvada West due to injury. Reasbeck pitched well in the loss to Cherry Creek and sophomore Michael Kroll was big against Arvada West, while sophomore Cade Filleman earned the win in relief against Castle View.
It will be all hands on deck if the Raiders hope to get through four games to win title.
Darr believes his team can come into the final weekend and make some noise, much like it saw last season from Cherry Creek. Regis Jesuit remembers well that it was in the prime position last year, but couldn’t stop the red-hot Bruins — who also had an emotional edge with the retirement of coach Marc Johnson — in two games on the final day.
“We’re situation now where there’s really no pressure; you know you have to win four games in a row, but you emphasize the hitting and the little things and just see what happens,” he said. “It’s one of those things where you win a couple and you start to get momentum and suddenly something happens like we experienced last year against Creek, where they came into the last day with momentum.
“If we can gain that the first day, we’ll be dangerous Saturday.”
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
