DENVER | Facing a league rival with its best pitcher on the mound — plus the usual heightened urgency of postseason play — made for a difficult challenge for Regis Jesuit as it opened the Class 5A Championship Series Friday afternoon.
The third-seeded Raiders began the double-elimination tournament against sixth-seeded Mountain Vista, a fellow Continental League program that they’d beaten by just a single run a few weeks earlier in the regular season.
Five innings into the contest at All-City Stadium, Regis Jesuit found its down by a run — though it felt like more — but managed to manufacture two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and held on for a dramatic 3-2 victory. The win moved coach Matt Darr’s team along in the championship bracket into a matchup against No. 7 Legend, which defeated No. 2 Broomfield 6-3 in the earlier contest.
“I kept thinking, it felt like through the third or fourth inning, that we weren’t close, but I turned to my coaches and said ‘if we get to the sixth inning with the top of our lineup, I like our chances,” Darr said.
Darr was indeed correct, though his earlier feeling had a lot to do with the performance of Mountain Vista senior Sawyer Tipton, who got on quite a roll after he surrendered a monster solo home run to Regis Jesuit senior Deion Cesario-Scott followed by a double to senior starting pitcher Hudson Alpert in the bottom of the first inning.
After the Golden Eagles cashed in a leadoff walk from Alpert into a run and then took the lead on Cole Bobbin’s solo home run in the second inning, Tipton struck out the side twice and allowed just a single baserunner — a walk drawn by senior leadoff hitter Jacob Olson — between the second and fifth innings.
Junior Mikey Kroll relieved Alpert and kept Mountain Vista from adding to the lead. The Golden Eagles got the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the sixth, but Kroll induced a groundball to junior Brady Wright at third base that ended the threat.
That brought the top of the Regis Jesuit order up in the bottom of the inning against Tipton and things finally changed when Olson opened the frame with a single and was the first leadoff hitter of an inning to reach base.
“It’s hard to get anything going against a good arm without traffic (on the bases),” Darr said. “You tip your cap to Tipton, he was really good.”
Senior Chase Massey set the Raiders up with a double that put both runners in scoring position and sent Mountain Vista to its bullpen. A wild pitch by reliever Dylan Langstaff allowed Olson to score the tying run and Massey then came home when Cesario-Scott broke for first base after a dropped third strike and the throw went awry.
Langstaff then hit Alpert with a pitch and a double steal led by pinch runner Luke Hoffman got two runners into scoring position, but Langstaff struck out senior Eli Shappee, Wright and pinch hitter Alex Hughes to keep the margin at one run.
That nearly had ramifications in the top of the seventh, when Jace Brockett reached first on an infield bleeder. The defensive play of the game came next for Regis Jesuit, as Kroll’s pickoff throw got past Cesario-Scott at first base and went down the right field line, which sent Brockett flying around the bases.
Brockett tried to score the tying run, but Hughes got the ball back to the infield to Kroll, who turned and a threw a strike to senior catcher Jack Manthey, who applied the tag in time. Brockett slammed his helmet on the ground in frustration and was ejected.
“I wish I could say it was good defense, but there’s no way your practice a play where the pitcher ends up being the cutoff,” Darr said. “We definitely got lucky with that one.”
Kroll then struck out No. 2 hitter Miles Vosburg to end the contest and send the Golden Eagles into the elimination bracket to face Broomfield Saturday morning.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2026 CLASS 5A BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
May 22 at All-City Stadium
(3) REGIS JESUIT 3, (6) MOUNTAIN VISTA 2
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Mtn. Vista 110 000 0 — 2 3 0
Regis Jesuit 100 002 x — 3 4 3
MOUNTAIN VISTA (ab-r-h-rbi)
Jace Brockett rf 3-1-0-0, Miles Vosburg 3b 4-0-0-0, Alex King 2b 3-0-1-0, Jackson Crawford cf 3-0-1-1, Cruz Martinez 1b 2-0-0-0, Cole Bobbin ss 2-1-1-1, Damarco Medina c 2-0-0-0, Tyce Harvey dh 1-0-0-0, Deven Hazari pr 0-0-0-0, VJ Graves lf 1-0-0-0, Collin Gosulak ph 1-0-0-0. Totals 23-2-3-2. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Sawyer Tipton (L, 5-4-3-2-1-9), Dylan Langstaff (1-0-0-0-0-4)
REGIS JESUIT (ab-r-h-rbi)
Jacob Olson cf 2-1-1-0, Chase Massey ss 3-1-1-0, Deion Cesario-Scott 1b 3-1-1-1, Hudson Alpert p-2b 2-0-1-0, Eli Shappee dh 3-0-0-0, Brady Wright 3b 3-0-0-0, Greyson Glasheen rf 2-0-0-0, Alex Hughes ph 1-0-0-0, Jack Manthey c 2-0-0-0, Carter Rathbun 2-0-0-0. Totals 23-3-4-1. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Hudson Alpert (4 1/3-3-2-2-2-7), Mikey Kroll (W, 2 2/3-0-0-0-3-4)
2B — Regis Jesuit: Chase Massey. HR — Mountain Vista: Cole Bobbin (solo in 2nd inning). Regis Jesuit: Deion Cesario-Scott (solo in 1st inning)
