DENVER | While Hudson Alpert again took the pressure off the offense because of his performance on the mound, Regis Jesuit’s bats came alive Friday morning in the opener of the Class 5A Championship Series.
The third-seeded Raiders pounded out nine hits — including home runs from juniors Andrew Bell and Brody Chyr — and provided way more offense that was needed in a 9-1 victory over Continental League rival and sixth-seeded Chaparral, which had won the regular season meeting between the teams.
Alpert continued his outstanding freshman season with a complete-game, 1-hitter on the mound, as he ceded a single run in the fifth inning, with seven strikeouts to improve to 7-0 for coach Matt Darr’s team.
Regis Jesuit moved into what was supposed to be a Friday afternoon game between the winner of No. 10 Rocky Mountain and No. 15 Valor Christian, but that game got moved to 8:30 a.m. Saturday due to weather. The Lobos and Eagles had to move from All-City Stadium to finish their game at All-Star Park.
In the opening contest, but the time Chaparral (19-6-1) — which posted an 11-7 win over Regis Jesuit in an error-filled contest April 26 that Darr called his team’s worst performance of the season — scored its lone run, the Raiders had built a seven-run lead.
A four-run first-inning rally against Wolverines’ starter Cooper Gilliland was keyed by senior Brien Kenny’s two-run single that actually brought in three runs due to a throwing error. Kenny then came home on junior Trevor Nordstrom’s infield single.
Bell connected on his seventh home run of the season with sophomore Christian Lopez on third base in the second inning, while Chyr deposited a solo shot over the fence in the fifth inning.
Alpert yielded his only run in the fifth inning on a hit by Dillon Volz that plated Derek Ball.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2023 CLASS 5A CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
(3) REGIS JESUIT 9, (6) CHAPARRAL 1
Score by innings:
Chaparral 000 010 0 — 1
Regis Jesuit 420 120 x — 9
CHAPARRAL (ab-r-h-rbi)
Tanner Donner 3-0-0-0, Brayden Munroe 3-0-0-0, Cole Jenkins 3-0-0-0, Logan Manuello 3-0-0-0, Derek Ball 2-1-0-0, Kyle Cordo 2-0-1-0, Cal Tiner 2-0-0-0, Dillon Volz 2-0-1-1, Brody Sprinkle 2-0-0-0. Totals 23-1-2-1. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Cooper Gilliland (L, 2-4-6-4-3-3), Jason Berglund (2-1-1-1-0-2), Wes Langheinrich (1-1-2-2-1-0), Alex Clark (1-0-0-0-0-2)
REGIS JESUIT (ab-r-h-rbi)
Christian Lopez 3-2-1-0, Andrew Bell 4-1-1-2, Brody Chyr 3-2-1-1, Grant Gedrose 1-1-0-0, Evan Di Tanna 2-1-1-0, Brien Kenny 3-1-1-2, Trevor Nordstrom 3-1-1-1, Hudson Alpert 2-0-0-0, Nate Lewis 2-0-0-0, Tyce Smith 1-0-0-0, Jace Filleman 1-0-0-0. Totals 25-9-6-6. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Hudson Alpert (W, 7-1-1-1-1-7)
2B — Regis Jesuit: Trevor Nordstrom. HR — Regis Jesuit: Andrew Bell (1 on in 2nd), Brody Chyr (solo in 5th)