AURORA – The Regis Jesuit baseball team wasn’t threatened very much during a 5-0 home win over Legacy on Tuesday but the win didn’t simply mark the passing of another day on the calendar.

It showed that the Raiders are deep and steady, and can win games even on days when they’re not at their best. Off to an excellent 6-1 start to the 2019 season, the Raiders are rapidly solidifying themselves as viable contenders for Colorado’s state title in Class 5A.

“It was kind of business-like,” Raiders head coach Matt Darr said of Tuesday’s win. “We just got back from Florida and we had a really good effort down there. We have four games in four days and we play Valor tomorrow so we felt a little flat. But we took care of business. We threw strikes and we hit OK even though we had some runners get thrown out on the bases.”

The Raiders indeed left seven runners on base in Tuesday’s game. But the way senior Brent DiBiase (Notre Dame) was throwing on the mound, they didn’t need more than a few runs to beat the Lightning.

A 6-foot-1, 155-pound lefty, DiBiase has a 1.40 ERA in three appearances and has struck out 16 batters over 10 innings early this spring. The Raiders senior will take his fastball in the 86 to 87 mile-per-hour range, curveball and changeup to Notre Dame as a preferred walk-on next year.

Throwing four innings against Legacy, DiBiase gave up just one hit and struck out six batters while walking just one. He threw 43 strikes in 68 pitches. 2019 Bradshaw Willis threw two scoreless innings in relief and 2020 Nate Dinges pitched a scoreless seventh to close out the game.

2019 Samuel Doubet, who leads the Raiders with a .562 batting average through his first seven games, went 3 for 3 at the plate and drove in a pair of runs to pace the Regis Jesuit offense. 2019 Geno Macias, (Air Force), who tripled and scored to spur a three-run rally in the third inning, and 2019 Caden Wagner (Penn State) each had a pair of hits.

Looking to keep their hot start alive, the Raiders will turn to 2019 Patrick Strawbridge (Cisco JC) on the road against Valor Christian (2-3) on Wednesday.  

“This is the first year we play them with them moving up to 5A for baseball,” Darr said. “It’s a good rival. We’re both private schools and they guys are excited to play them. And I know they’re excited to play us so we’ll just look to take care of business again.”

As for Legacy, the Lightning fell to 1-5 on the young campaign but showed signs that their retooling efforts after graduating their entire pitching staff after last season are progressing. The Lightning have allowed 6.8 runs per game and on Tuesday, 2020 starter Joshua Maestas escaped his two innings of work having allowed just one unearned run on two hits.

2021 RHP Cole Walker was charged with three runs over his two innings for the Lightning, 2020 Henry Kisselman allowed a run while one the mound for the fifth inning and 2020 Tyler Lyons worked his way out of a jam to pitch a scoreless sixth.

2019 Dylan Grierson, who did not pitch on Tuesday, has been Legacy’s steadiest pitcher so far in 2019 with a 2.25 ERA over a team-high 9.1 innings on the mound.

“I think we're right there,” Legacy head coach Ty Giordano said. “I thought pitching-wise, we faced an outstanding baseball team that can really swing the bats and for us to hold them to five runs is a pretty good showing. We just didn't hit enough and when we did, we didn't do it with guys on base.

“Our pitching staff is a work in progress. The guys are trying to compete and trying to work hard. They're getting used to the speed of the game and the hitters at this level, because there's a big difference between junior varsity and varsity hitters. It's a baptism by fire but I'm proud of them because they're getting better every day.”

Legacy’s 2019 catcher Blake Labuda led the Lightning with a pair of doubles in three plate appearances against Regis Jesuit. He is now batting .429 on the season.

"I just came out here trying to battle and trying to do everything I could to help my team today," Labuda said. "I felt really good at the plate today. I was just trying to find something to drive and I had a couple pretty good swings and got a couple pitches elevated. I haven't seen many lefties like that so I was happy to have a good game today."

The Lightning will be back in action against Pomona (1-7) on Thursday.

Regis Jesuit 5, Legacy 0
At Regis Jesuit H.S.

Legacy 000 000 0 — 0 3 2
Regis Jesuit 103 010 0 — 5 8 0

W — Dibiase. L — Maestas.

Legacy hitting (ab-r-h-rbi) — Esplin 3-0-0-0, Sehr 3-0-0-0, Labuda 3-0-2-0, Grierson 3-0-0-0, Lyons 3-0-0-0, Maestas 2-0-0-0, Claridge 2-0-1-0, Mari 1-0-0-0, Walker 1-0-0-0, Jaeger 1-0-0-0, Garcia 2-0-0-0, Anderson 0-0-0-0, Kisselman 0-0-0-0. Totals 24-0-3-0. 2B — Labuda 2, Claridge.

Regis Jesuit hitting (ab-r-h-rbi) — Padilla 3-0-0-0, Macias 4-1-2-0, Wagner 3-2-2-1, O'Donnell 1-2-1-0, Perchiazzi 3-0-0-0, Best 1-0-0-0, Doubet 3-0-3-2, Stoughton 2-0-0-0, Cushenbery 1-0-0-0, Thompson 2-0-0-0, Parson 0-0-0-0, Dibiase 0-0-0-0, Willis 0-0-0-0, Dinges 0-0-0-0. Totals 23-5-8-3. 2B — O'Donnell. 3B — Macias. SB — O'Donnell 2.

Legacy pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Maestas 2-2-1-0-2-1, Walker 2-3-3-3-3-1, Kisselman 1-1-1-1-0-1, Lyons 1-2-0-0-1-0.

Regis Jesuit pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Dibiase 4-1-0-0-1-6, Willis 2-1-0-0-0-2, Dinges 1-1-0-0-0-0.