AURORA | The Smoky Hill baseball team scored five times in the final two innings to earn a big 7-4 Centennial League-opening win at Grandview April 3.
Senior Danny McDermott homered and drove in three runs late in the rally, while junior Colin Richey and senior Isaac Sprinkle also had RBI for the Buffaloes in their winning rally.
Sophomore right-hander Diego Velasquez overcame five walks to earn the win, as he allowed five hits and three runs in five innings and sophomore Liam Grimble came on for a two-inning save.
Coach Bob Kennedy’s Smoky Hill team improved to 7-2 on the season as it snapped a four-game losing streak against Grandview and beat the Wolves for the first time since April 25, 2015.
Senior Gunner Foegen doubled twice and scored for coach Scott Henry’s Grandview team, while junior Peter Goldy and sophomore Garrett Lippold drove in runs.
The Wolves (5-2, 0-1) dropped their second straight game since returning from a 4-0 road trip to the Anaheim Lions Tournament in California.
Grandview scored three times in the second inning as it capitalized on Velasquez’s early struggles with control. The Buffaloes began to chip away against Grandview starter Preston Ederhoff, who was touched for a run on Cam Kennedy’s RBI triple in the top of the third.
Junior Jayden Martinez doubled to open the bottom of the inning, but Velasquez picked him off second base to thwart a potential Grandview rally.
Smoky Hill played smallball for its second run as senior Jake Martin drew a walk, Sprinkle sacrificed him to second and junior Ayden Grimble dropped a run-scoring single into center field.
The Buffaloes put together a three-run rally in the sixth inning and tacked on two more in the seventh to go in front, while the Wolves got just a sixth-inning run off Liam Grimble the rest of the way.
Smoky Hill and Grandview could meet again later in the season if they end up in the same pool of the Centennial League Challenge tournament.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Sentinel Prep Sports
SMOKY HILL 7, GRANDVIEW 4
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Smoky Hill 001 103 2 — 7 7 0
Grandview 030 001 0 — 4 6 2
SMOKY HILL (ab-r-h-rbi)
Dylan McKee 4-1-1-0, Cam Kennedy 3-1-2-1, Danny McDermott 4-1-2-3, Jake Martin 3-1-0-0, Diego Velasquez 2-0-0-0, Isaac Sprinkle 2-0-0-1, Ayden Grimble 3-0-1-1, Colin Richey 3-0-0-1, Izzy Rodriguez 2-1-0-0, Preston Cooper 1-0-1-0, Reece Bailey 0-1-0-0, Jesse Bakersky 0-1-0-0. Totals 27-7-7-7. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Diego Velasquez (W, 5-5-3-3-5-2), Liam Grimble (Save, 2-1-1-0-3-3).
GRANDVIEW (ab-r-h-rbi)
Jayden Martinez 3-0-1-0, Gunnar Foegen 4-1-2-0, Jackson VanZee 3-0-0-0, Luke La Flam 3-0-0-0, Tony Castonguay 2-0-0-0, Peter Goldy 2-2-1-1, Garrett Lippold 2-0-0-1, Amari Smith 3-0-2-0, Max Marshall 3-0-0-0, Cole Crader 1-0-0-0, Michael Sermini 1-0-0-0, Matthew Yan 0-1-0-0. Totals 27-4-6-2. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Preston Ederhoff (L, 5-4-5-3-3-3), Josh Hojnowski (2-3-2-2-1-1).
2B — Smoky Hill: Dylan McKee; Grandview (4): Gunnar Foegen 2, Peter Goldy, Jayden Martinez. 3B — Smoky Hill: Cam Kennedy. HR — Smoky Hill: Danny McDermott