Prep Baseball Report

Colorado Game of the Day: Longmont defeats Centaurus


Brad Cochi
Northern Colorado Senior Writer

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LONGMONT – A year ago, few would have considered an early-April game between Northern League opponents Longmont and Centaurus to be a contest worthy of much attention.

But on at least one side of that particular matchup, a lot has changed.

In 2018, the Longmont boys went 19-4 and reached the Class 4A state tournament. Centaurus won just four games, which was pretty much on brand since the Warriors hadn’t posted double digit wins since 2013. Last season’s conference series ended in a sweep and a 40-9 scoring differential in Longmont’s favor.

This year’s Warriors, however, have already won three games and promised the Trojans a much better test than in previous seasons. They delivered, but still fell 7-1 on the road on Wednesday at Longmont High School.

“They’ve been playing really well and they’re a solid team,” Longmont head coach Tom Fobes said. “It was a tight game early on. We finally scratched a couple runs and then we scratched a couple more.”

The Trojans (5-3, 2-1) scored first when 2019 Chris Gumeson sprinted home on a groundout by fellow 2019 Kascen Deeter, and 2021 Adam Benes scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the second inning. Trojans 2019 Grant Rulon added a third run, also scoring on a wild pitch. Aided by a pair of Centaurus (6-3, 1-2) errors, the Trojans put up three more runs in the fourth to pull ahead 6-0.

That was all Trojans 2021 Devon Nowells needed to pick up his first win of the new campaign while making his third start of the spring.

“I felt pretty good,” Nowells said. “I’m getting back after basketball, I’ve played a few games and now I’m not on a low pitch count anymore. This was my first time pitching at home and I felt the energy from the crowd and all my guys being with me. It was good to get it going because I love pitching at home.

Nowells, pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning and held the Warriors to one unearned run while striking out five batters over five innings. He has a 2.471 ERA with 19 strikeouts and 13 walks over 17 innings this spring, and is also batting .308 with a team-leading 11 RBIs at the plate.

Longmont 2019 Brady Renck (Westmont College) went 1 for 4 at the plate and extended his hitting streak to 10 games dating back to May 22, 2018. Through the first eight games in 2019, he’s slashing .630/.706/1.148 with four doubles, two triples, two home runs, 10 RBIs and eight stolen bases.

Having recently returned from a 2-1 spring break trip to Surprise, Ariz., the Centaurus Warriors didn’t have their best game on Wednesday.

2020s Marcus Van Zee, Nick Van Tassel and Jack Battistelli, as well as 2021 Eddie Zygowicz who drove in the lone Centaurus run in the fifth, combined for the Warriors four hits. Van Tassel, whose fastball sits in the mid-70s but mixes in a variety of curveballs, cutters and changeups, walked five and didn’t make it out of the fourth inning while expending 85 pitches.

“Nick pitched well through three but they made their adjustments and started getting on him,” Centaurus head coach Douglas Kinney said. “We had to make a change at the end but he’s a competitor, he loves to compete and he’ll be fine.

At Noon on Saturday, Longmont and Centaurus will play the second game of their home-and-away series at Centaurus. The game will start at Noon with Longmont 2021 Owen Kroeger on the mound against Centaurus 2021 David Jachimiak.