AURORA | In patient and then dramatic fashion, the Grandview baseball team took a key leg up in the Centennial League race Tuesday afternoon.
Coach Scott Henry’s Wolves coaxed a total of nine walks from three Cherokee Trail pitchers and used the free passes to help fuel a 13-10 victory made closer by a furious rally by the Cougars.
Grandview kept pace with Mullen as the Centennial League’s undefeated teams, while Cherokee Trail fell a game back going into the rematch between the teams on Thursday afternoon at Grandview.
Wolves starter Cade Crader gave up two hits and a walk to the first three hitters he faced and all three scored to put Grandview in a hole, but the senior right-hander settled into to blank a potent Cherokee Trail lineup for the rest of his five innings on the mound.
Cougars left-hander Conner Nantkes struck out 13 hitters in his previous start and kept Grandview at bay into the fourth inning before he lost the strike zone and walked Garrett Gipson, Hunter Mclaran and Zach Sundine consecutively to load the bases with one out.
Nantkes fanned Tyler Smith for the second out of the inning, but uncorked a wild pitch to allow Gipson to score, then issued another free pass to Andrew Coverly to load the bases and another to Tyson Hays to force in a run.
Travis Parker, who struck out with the bases loaded in the third inning, smacked a two-run single to make it a another crooked number for a Grandview team that has thrived on big innings this season.
Cherokee Trail coach Allan Dyer turned to reliever Keven MacIntosh, who got a strike out to end the fourth, but issued two walks of his own as the Wolves piled on four more runs in the fifth inning and scored three more runs against Eric Cox in the sixth.
Held at bay by Crader, who allowed just two hits between the second and fifth innings, the Cougars finally got back into the game with four-run rallies in both the sixth and seventh innings.
A bizarre 7-6-3 double play ended Cherokee Trail’s rally in the sixth when Nantkes hit a one-out drive to the gap in left center field that was tracked down by left fielder Gunnar Lamphere. John-Michael Osley tagged up at third base and scored, but the run was wiped out when Cox took off around second thinking the ball would fall and got doubled off first base.
Matt Meraz, Travis Lynch, Osley and Trey Smith drove in runs in Cherokee Trail’s seventh-inning rally against Smith, but pinch hitter Johnathan Dornan was called out on a close play at first base to end the game.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
GRANDVIEW 13, CHEROKEE TRAIL 10
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Grandview 100 543 0 — 13 11 1
Cher. Trail 300 003 4 — 10 13 3
GRANDVIEW (ab-r-h-rbi)
Zach Sundine rf 4-2-2-0, Tyler Smith ss-p 4-1-2-1, Andrew Coverly 3b-p 4-2-2-2, Tyson Hays c 3-0-1-2, Travis Parker cf 5-0-1-2, Cade Crader p 4-0-1-0, Dylan Bowers 1b 4-1-2-0, Garrett Gipson lf 1-2-0-0, Gunnar Lamphere lf 0-1-0-0, Hunter Mclaran 2b 2-3-1-0, Braden Sullivan pr-3b 0-0-0-0. Totals 32-13-11-7. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Cade Crader (W, 5-6-3-3-2-6), Andrew Coverly (1-3-3-2-1-1), Tyler Smith (1-4-4-4-2-1).
CHEROKEE TRAIL (ab-r-h-rbi)
Eric Cox lf 5-1-3-0, Conner Nantkes p-lf 4-1-2-0, Nick Perez 3b 1-2-0-0, Ryan Sullivan 1b 4-1-2-2, Michael Morris ss 4-2-2-0, Matt Meraz rf 4-2-2-2, Travis Lynch dh 4-0-2-1, Josh Zambrano c 0-0-0-0, Logan Mayrose pr 0-1-0-0, John-Michael Osley 2b 2-0-0-2, Trey Smith cf 3-0-0-1. Totals 32-10-13-9. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Conner Nantkes (L, 3.2-5-6-5-6-4), Keven MacKintosh (1.1-2-4-4-2-1), Eric Cox (2-2-3-2-1-1).
2B — Cherokee Trail: Eric Cox 2