LAKEWOOD | For the second time in three seasons, the Regis Jesuit baseball team has earned the coveted top spot going into the final weekend of the Class 5A Baseball Championship Series.
The Raiders went 3-0 on the opening weekend in 2024 to earn an automatic spot in the championship game and were defeated, twice, by Cherry Creek on the final day to fall short of the program’s first title since 2019.
Coach Matt Darr’s Regis Jesuit team finds itself in the same position this season — though determined not to repeat that end result — after it knocked off top-seeded Arvada West 14-8 Saturday evening in a championship semifinal at All-Star Park. The third-seeded Raiders brought an end to a 22-game winning streak for the Wildcats and earned an automatic spot in the 10 a.m. May 30 5A state title game at the same venue.
“I don’t think we’re surprised, but obviously we know it’s a big win,” senior Hudson Alpert said. “We were ready to play today. We were confident this was a game we could win. It feels great, but we’ve got to get back at it this week.”
Unbeaten so far in the double elimination tournament, Regis Jesuit (22-7) could stand a loss and get a rematch against the team that emerges from the May 29 semifinals — Arvada West or the other two survivors, No. 4 Pine Creek and No. 7 Legend.
The Raiders were slow-starting offensively in their opener Friday against No. 6 Mountain Vista (a 3-2 win, story, here), got more dangerous in a subsequent 8-3 win over No. 7 Legend (story, here) and then exploded against Arvada West, which had to dig deep into its pitching depth for the third contest in two days.
Regis Jesuit scored in six of its seven at-bats and pounded out 16 hits — six for extra bases, including a three-run home run from Alpert — while the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters in the lineup (seniors Jack Manthey and Greyson Glasheen) combined to go 4-for-7 with five RBI.
The Raiders used five pitchers to keep the Wildcats at bay, especially in the final innings. Sophomore left-hander Finn Judge ended up with the win after he worked 2 1/3 innings and allowed a single run.
Regis Jesuit came out swinging and put two runs immediately on the board when junior Brady Wright singled in seniors Chase Massey and Deion Cesario-Scott. Massey came up again in the second inning and hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Glasheen (who had tripled), which knocked out Arvada West starter Luke Alonso.
Arvada West manufactured some runs of its own off Regis Jesuit junior starter Ryan Neumann and took a 4-3 lead in the third inning on a moonshot solo home run from Levi Leuck, the second batter faced by Judge.
The Raiders responded with a go-ahead rally in the top of the fourth inning and tacked on four runs in the top of the fifth, with the big blow coming from Manthey, who had a three-run double down the right field line after Arvada West’s catcher couldn’t haul in his foul pop-up on the previous pitch.
“One thing we’ve been talking about this whole season is do it for your brothers,” said Manthey, who drove in another run later with a sacrifice fly. “I think it’s way less about me than it is about the team. I think that hit meant so much to the team and seeing my teammates really excited in the dugout felt great.
“There’s nothing else I could have asked for in that moment.”
That rally cracked the game open and the Raiders added five more runs off a trio of relievers in their final two at-bats for good measure.
Darr kept a calm demeanor as he watched his team battle in every at-bat and produce.
“I thought if we held them to seven runs, we’d win, and then when we erupted, I just felt like our offense was going to continue to roll,” he said. “It was just one of those days.”
Alpert put the exclamation point on the offensive outburst with a soaring three-run home run to left field in the seventh inning.
“It felt great, I just had to stick with it all game,” Alpert said. “I was 0-for-4, but I wanted to make a difference in the game. It felt great off the bat.”
Manthey (who was behind the plate to catch Neumann and relievers Ezra Christ, Lucas Stavenger and finally Wright) led the way with four RBI on the day, while Alpert had three and seniors Jacob Olson and Massey and junior Wright had two apiece.
Note: Arvada West coach Danny Vais was ejected from the game and will have to sit out for two games per the Colorado High School Activities Association’s policy. He could return to the bench if the Wildcats advance to the championship and defeat Regis Jesuit in the first game.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2026 CLASS 5A BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Championship Semifinal, May 23 at All-Star Park
(3) REGIS JESUIT 14, (1) ARVADA WEST 8
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Regis Jesuit 210 242 3 — 14 16 2
Arvada West 121 001 3 — 8 8 1
REGIS JESUIT (ab-r-h-rbi)
Jacob Olson cf 5-0-1-2, Chase Massey ss 4-2-2-2, Deion Cesario-Scott 1b 3-1-2-0, Hudson Alpert 2b 5-1-1-3, Eli Shappee rf 3-1-2-0, Brady Wright 3b-p 3-2-2-2, Carter Rathbun lf 4-1-2-0, Jack Manthey c 3-0-1-4, Greyson Glasheen dh 4-2-3-1, Alex Hughes ph 0-3-0-0, Beau Huckemeyer 3b 0-0-0-0. Totals 34-14-16-14. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Ryan Neumann (2-1-3-2-3-4), Finn Judge (W, 2 1/3-2-1-1-1-2), Ezra Christ (1 1/3-2-1-1-0-0), Lucas Stavenger (1/3-2-3-3-3-1), Brady Wright (1-1-0-0-0-1)
ARVADA WEST (ab-r-h-rbi)
Brayden Reiner c 3-0-2-1, Cooper Vais ss-cf 1-0-0-1, Beau Friesen rf 4-0-0-0, Levi Leuck 1b 3-1-1-1, Holden Goodrich dh 4-1-1-0, Jeremiah Gonzales 4-1-2-2, Kellen Conley 2-1-1-0, Keegan Milikan 2b 3-1-0-2, Andrew Aguilar pr 0-1-0-0, Caden Koon pr 0-1-0-0. Totals 28-8-8-7. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Luke Alonso (1 2/3-3-3-1-2-1), Cole Eisenreich (L, 2-3-2-2-1-1), Jake Richards (1/3-2-4-4-2-0), Liam West (1-5-3-3-0-0), Beau Friesen (2-3-2-2-2-2)
2B — Regis Jesuit: Deion Cesario-Scott, Greyson Glasheen, Jack Manthey, Jacob Olson. Arvada West: Jeremiah Gonzales 2. 3B — Regis Jesuit: Glasheen. Arvada West: Brayden Reiner. HR — Regis Jesuit: Hudson Alpert (2 on in 7th inning). Arvada West: Levi Leuck (solo in 3rd)
