DENVER | The experience of three previous trips to the Class 5A Baseball Championship Series aided Regis Jesuit Friday afternoon against a team that hadn’t been there before.
Playing the first game of their fourth consecutive trip to the double-elimination tournament, the sixth-seeded Raiders weathered an early flurry from the third-seeded Wildcats and then gradually pulled away for an 11-5 victory at All-City Stadium.
Regis Jesuit scored at least one run in five of its six at-bats — including multiple-run rallies in the third, fourth and sixth innings — and pounded out 12 hits against three Wildcats pitchers to move forward in the championship bracket.
“When we got behind, you didn’t really feel panic in our guys and you sensed that confidence that we were going to score some runs,” Raiders coach Matt Darr said. “We’ve been through this enough that if you get hot this time of year, nothing else matters, really.”
Senior Jace Filleman’s three-run home run in the sixth inning was the big blow for Regsi Jesuit as it finally gained separation. The Raiders moved on to an afternoon contest against No. 2 Cherry Creek in a rematch of last season’s 5A state championship won by the Bruins in two games.
Sophomore Michael Kroll came up huge for Regis Jesuit against Arvada West (22-4-1), as he came on in place of junior ace Hudson Alpert, who departed due to injury in the fourth inning.
Kroll not only pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings to close out the game, but he also used a rare at-bat (only his second of the entire season) to drive in a run with a single in the fifth inning. That expanded the lead to two runs and the Raiders broke it open with four runs in the sixth, which was highlighted by Filleman’s three-run blast that just cleared the wall in left center field for his first homer of the year.
“I missed the first change-up down the middle and I was kicking myself and then he gave me another one down the middle,” Filleman said. “I just sat back and hammered it. It felt so nice off the bat. I wouldn’t be happier, I had a great day at the plate and I’m ahppy we got a win, too.”
Junior Chase Massey went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI for Regis Jesuit before also departing due to injury, while Alpert (who got the win with 3 2/3 innings of work) helped himself with a key two-run single in the fourth inning. Senior catcher Nick Wiley added three hits.
The Raiders know what is at stake against Cherry Creek, which defeated them twice in a row on the last day of last season’s 5A Championship Series.
“Every game now is big, every at-bat and every pitch counts,” Filleman said. “We have so many guys that know this is what it feels like, so there’s no nerves. …We’ve faced the best of the best in Colorado and it other states, so we just know whoever we face, we’re going to dominate. We’ll get excited, but we’re not going to get too far down.”
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
(6) REGIS JESUIT 11, (3) ARVADA WEST 5
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Arvada West 120 200 0 — 5 8 3
Regis Jesuit 102 314 x — 11 12 1
REGIS JESUIT (ab-r-h-e)
Christian Lopez cf 4-2-1-0, Hudson Alpert p 3-0-1-2, Michael Kroll p 2-0-1-1, Chase Massey 2b 4-2-3-2, Nick Wiley c 5-0-3-1, Luke Reasbeck dh 3-1-1-1, Gavin Cronin rf 4-1-0-0, Diesel Bernosky 3b 3-1-0-0, Carter Rathbun lf 2-2-1-0, Jace Filleman 1b 2-1-1-3, Henry Dinges cr 0-1-0-0. Totals 33-11-12-10. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Hudson Alpert (W, 3 2/3-7-5-4-2-5), Michael Kroll (3 1/3-1-0-0-1-3)
ARVADA WEST (ab-r-h-e)
Brayden Reiner c 4-0-2-1, Cooper Vais p-cf 3-1-1-3, Tate Deal ss 4-0-2-1, Luke Alonso cf 3-0-1-0, Levi Lueck 1b 4-0-0-0, Beau Friesen lf 4-1-2-0, Holden Goodrich dh 3-0-0-0, Kellen Conley 3b 2-1-0-0, Keegan Millikan 2b 2-0-0-0, Mikey Perez cr 0-2-0-0. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Cooper Vais (L, 3 1/3-7-6-3-3-4), Kolten DeGroot (2-3-2-2-2-3), Cole Eisenrich (1 2/3-2-3-3-2-2)
2B — Regis Jesuit: Chase Massey. Arvada West: Beau Friesen. 3B — Regis Jesuit: Massey. HR — Regis Jesuit: Jace Filleman (2 on in 6th inning). Arvada West: Cooper Vais (1 on 4th inning).
