AURORA | Two Aurora baseball teams looking to find their grooves both took a step towards it Monday.
While Monday’s 5-4 Regis Jesuit victory over Cherokee Trail could hardly be described as a thriller — except for the final inning when the Cougars pulled within one on Michael Morris’ three-run home run — both teams exhibited traits that bode well for postseason aspirations.
A solid performance by senior ace Caleb Sloan and a five-run fourth-inning rally had Regis Jesuit in a strong position in the later innings and coach Matt Darr’s group found a way to hold on against a Cherokee Trail team that finally got going late in its first game since March 21.
Both teams that qualified for last season’s 5A Championship Series — won by coach Allan Dyer’s Cougars — played out-of-state trips, with Cherokee Trail (2-5) a few weeks removed from trip to Arizona for a very competitive Horizon Invitational. The Raiders (5-2) just returned from a 4-0 spring break trip to the Anaheim Lions Tournament in California.
Regis Jesuit’s crispness helped it get off to a strong start, as the hard-throwing Sloan (a Texas Christian University signee) and strong defensive play kept a potent Cherokee Trail lineup off the scoreboard in the first five innings.
Sloan got big outs when he needed them, especially in the third inning when he struck out Conner Nantkes and got a ground ball from Nick Perez with two runners in scoring position.
The Raiders stranded a runner in scoring position in each of the first three innings against Cougars starter Eric Cox and finally broke through in the fourth inning.
Junior catcher Brodie Marino drew a leadoff walk, Michael Baer singled and Ryan Walsh drew a walk to load the bases with one out. Cox bore down and got up 0-2 in the count against junior Orlando Trujillo, only to hit Trujillo with a pitch and force in the first run of the game. A Tyler Gayle grounder brought home another run and senior Jimmy Holinger had the big blow when he rifled a two-run double down the left field line.
A throwing error allowed Holinger to cross the plate with the fifth run of the rally.
The Raiders needed every bit of it as Cherokee Trail began to come back after Sloan was lifted in the sixth after throwing 87 pitches.
Gavin Bell singled off reliever Nate Schraeder and scored with two outs when Walsh was unable to squeeze Logan Mayrose’s two-out fly ball to right field.
Cox and Perez singled off Schraeder in the top of the seventh and Morris greeted closer Baer with a three-run blast over the fence in left center field. Baer got fly outs from Bell and Blake MacKintosh to end the ballgame.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
REGIS JESUIT 5, CHEROKEE TRAIL 4
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Cher. Trail 000 001 3 — 4 6 3
Regis Jesuit 000 500 x — 5 6 1
CHEROKEE TRAIL (ab-r-h-rbi)
Eric Cox p-cf 2-1-1-0, Conner Nantkes dh 3-0-0-0, Nick Perez 3b 4-1-1-0, Michael Morris ss 4-1-2-3, Gavin Bell cf 4-1-1-0, Blake MacKintosh 2b-p 4-0-1-0, Nick Gonzales 1-0-0-0, Jake Erredge 1-0-0-0, Logan Mayrose 2-0-0-0, Jake Barber cf 1-0-0-0, Caleb Albert 1-0-0-0. Totals 27-4-6-3. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Eric Cox (L, 3 2/3-4-5-4-3-2), Brendon Johnson (1/3-0-0-0-0-0), Blake MacKintosh (2-2-0-0-2-1).
REGIS JESUIT (ab-r-h-rbi)
Jimmy Holinger ss 3-1-1-2, Casey Wardynski 2b 4-0-1-0, Austin Chouinard 3b 2-0-1-0, Brodie Marino c 3-0-0-0, Geno Macias dh 3-0-1-0, Michael Baer 1b-p 3-1-2-0, Ryan Walsh rf 2-0-1-0, Orlando Trujillo lf 2-1-0-1, Tyler Gayle cf 3-0-0-1, Connor Cunningham pr 0-0-0-0. Totals 25-5-6-4. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Caleb Sloan (W, 5 1/3-3-1-0-5-4), Nathan Schraeder (1-2-2-2-1-1), Michael Baer (Save, 2/3-1-1-1-0-0).
2B — Cherokee Trail: Blake MacKintosh; Regis Jesuit: Jimmy Holinger. HR — Cherokee Trail: Michael Morris (2 on in 7th).