LAKEWOOD | The only program in the Class 5A final four without a state championship — Cherry Creek had nine, Broomfield eight and Regis Jesuit three — is still on the hunt to win its first.
Grandview made school history this season with a second straight appearance in the semifinals of the 5A Baseball Championship Series and also earned the top seed in the postseason, but it did not lead to a state title as it lost to Centennial League rival Cherry Creek on the first weekend of the tournament and was eliminated by No. 6 Regis Jesuit with a 2-1 loss May 30 at All-Star Park.
The Wolves’ smallball effectiveness paid off all season long, but they scored just a single run in each of their two losses.
“I thought our guys played hard, it was kindof like the same story last week when we lost, we couldn’t capitalize on offense,” coach Scott Henry said after the loss to Regis Jesuit, which gave Grandview a final record of 23-6.
The Wolves held an advantageous position given they went 2-1 on the opening weekend and were able to deploy junior ace Ethan Wachsmann against a Regis Jesuit team that had to turn around to play back-to-back contest after winning an elimination game against No. 5 Broomfield.
Wachsmann — who threw a seven-inning no-hitter during the regular season and tossed a complete game against No. 8 Castle View in the Championship Series opener — turned in another strong performance, but had to come out one batter into the sixth inning as he reached the maximum pitch count of 110.
“They did a great job of running Ethan’s pitch count up, which I’m sure was the game plan,” Henry said. “He made a lot of really quality pitches that they fouled off.”
Wachsmann hit Nick Wiley with a pitch before he exited and that would account for the only run he was charged with when he came around to score against senior reliever Josiah Giron, who issued a walk with the bases loaded to force home what would eventually be the winning run.
On the complete opposite side of the pitch count problem was Regis Jesuit sophomore starter Mikey Kroll, who was remarkably efficient and threw just 84 pitches for the game. He also got good fortune to survive a prime early Grandview chance.
The Wolves got senior Justin Dean to third base and junior AJ Maroni to second with nobody out in the second inning, but a pitch got in on sophomore Matthew Schimberg, whose check swing caromed out to Kroll, who caught it and threw out Dean trying to retreat to third base for a double play. Maroni then stole third, but was stranded.
“That was just a baseball nonsense kind of play and then we had a couple more chances to score, we just couldn’t get that big hit, again,” Henry said. “It was frustrating.”
Grandview’s lone run came in the third when senior Kyler Vaughn singled, moved up on junior Kayden Bohmeyer’s grounder, stole third and raced home on a wild pitch. The Wolves had just one more baserunner in the last four innings, however, which came on Schimberg’s single in the fourth.
Coming off a loss to Cherry Creek on the second-to-last day of the season a year ago, Henry was pleased that what he and his coaching staff “mapped out” about getting back to the same stage and possibly further mostly worked out. A lot of it due to the experience that returned from teams that won the Centennial League title in 2023 and made the 2024 semifinals.
The losses will be significant (especially when it comes to pitching), but Grandview expects to have back the improving Wachsmann — a Wake Forest recruit — along with fellow seniors-to-be Bohmeyer behind the plate and Maroni on the infield.
“We have some young guys I’m excited to see when we get them going and we have Ethan back,” Henry said. “I’ll look into that more in a week or two. It’s a long season.”
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2025 CLASS 5A BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
SEMIFINALS: (6) REGIS JESUIT 2, (1) GRANDVIEW 1
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Regis Jesuit 000 002 0 — 2 5 0
Grandview 001 000 0 — 1 3 0
REGIS JESUIT (ab-r-h-rbi)
Christian Lopez cf 4-0-0-0, Chase Massey 2b 3-0-0-0, Nick Wiley c 3-0-1-0, Jacob Olson lf-1b 2-1-1-0, Jace Filleman 1b 2-0-0-0, Carter Rathbun ph 1-0-0-0, Deion Cesario-Scott dh 3-0-0-0, Gavin Cronin rf 3-0-1-1, Brady Wright ss 2-0-1-0, Luke Reasbeck ph 1-0-0-0, Diesel Bernosky 3b 2-0-1-1. Totals 26-2-5-2. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Mikey Kroll (W, 7-3-1-1-1-2)
GRANDVIEW (ab-r-h-rbi)
Kayden Bohmeyer c 3-0-0-0, Chase Chapman ss 2-0-0-0, Jax Pfister 1b 2-0-0-0, Justin Dean 2b 2-0-0-0, AJ Maroni 3b 3-0-1-0, Matthew Schimberg dh 3-0-1-0, Kyle Cacciavillani rf 3-0-0-0, Ethan Wachsmann p 2-0-0-0, Kyler Vaughn cf 2-1-1-0. Totals 22-1-3-0. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Ethan Wachsmann (5-3-1-1-2-11), Josiah Giron (L, 2-2-1-1-2-1).
2B — Regis Jesuit: Diesel Bernosky, Brady Wright
