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By Jeff Markle and John Cackowski
Assistant State Director and State Director

 

Machebeuf High School

A powerhouse furious four can be found at Machebeuf High School for the first round of games of the 5A final 8.  The teams participating at Machebeuf have 7 state baseball championships between them.  The format for Friday is three games, one at 10:00 a.m. featuring 20-1 Fairview taking on defending 5A state champion and 14-7 ThunderRidge.  The 12:30 game will feature 18-3 Regis Jesuit and 16-5 Rocky Mountain.  The winners of these two games will square off at 3:00.

Fairview vs. ThunderRidge: 10:00 AM

The Fairview Knights who have not lost a game since March 28^th have been virtually unstoppable both on the mound and at the plate.  Going into the district tournament the Knights had scored 201 runs on the year and did not disappoint adding another 21 runs last Saturday.  Look for the Knights to continue to use Junior Tim Ryan as their offensive spark.  Last weekend in two games he was 4 for 5 with 3 homeruns and 6 RBI.  Senior Jeff Clarke who went into districts hitting .571 kept up his hot hitting going 3 for 4 on Saturday.  On the mound the Knights will march out Junior Ryan Madden who took down Mullen last week going 7 strong and striking out 9.  If it is not Madden then it will be Senior Ryan Kokora, he used Saturday to win number 9 on the year when his arm held Arapahoe to only 1 run. 

Opposing this powerful 20 win club will be the ThunderRidge Grizzlies who are no strangers to big games.  In addition to winning the state tournament last year, the Grizzlies spent their spring break this year playing in the National High School Invitational in Cary, North Carolina playing against some of the nations top schools.  No doubt the Grizzlies will use this experience to help them on Friday.  The Grizzlies who arrive on Friday having taken down Northglenn and Horizon last Saturday will hope the hot hitting of Juniors, Aaron Germani and Josh Brown 6 for 11 with 1 HR will continue and mainstays in the line up Seniors Brody Westmoreland .429 and Mark Hopper .405 will keep doing what they have done all season.  The Grizzlies will look to shut down the knights with experienced Senior, AJ Jones and Sophomore Jake Eissler.  These two pitchers have combined for 11 wins on the season struck 86 hitters.

 

Regis vs. Rocky Mountain: 12:30 PM

The Regis Raiders come into this weekend mirroring Fairview in the fact that their last loss was March 28^th.  The Raiders have only lost once in-state with their other two losses coming in the NHSI in Cary, North Carolina.  The Raiders who were tested twice on Saturday with 3-0 and 5-4 victories will no doubt be ready for Friday.  Look for Seniors, Justin Thaxton .500 and Max George .526 to go into their final games ready to carry the Raiders at the plate.  Sophomore Quin Cotton has come on strong at the end of the season to start making a name for himself, 3-5 with 3 RBI on Saturday.  The Raiders have a host of arms ready to go for Friday, but the bulk of the pitching duties will be given to, Junior Brent Schwarz, Senior Regan Todd, Senior Zach Heath and Senior David Peterson.  This stable of pitchers has combined for 12 wins and 95 strikeouts.

The Rocky Mountain Lobos who come in riding a 13 game winning streak, won their district by defeating Bear Creek and Grandview, scoring 22 runs and only surrendering 1 on the day.  Junior Kyle Reisman will look to stay hot from district where he went 5 for 6 with 1 RBI and 1 run scored.  Of course he cannot do it alone and the Lobos will also rely on Senior Carl Stajduhar .500 and Junior Cole Anderson .500 to carry their offense.  A pitching staff which only gave up 1 run on Saturday is anchored by Senior Tyler Stevens 1.81 ERA and Senior Carl Stajduhar 2.22 ERA.  Look for Senior Marc Bachman to also see time on the mound this weekend.  

All City Stadium

On the other side of the 5A bracket you find 2 more Continental Teams (The Continental League has been sending 4 or 5 teams to the final dance consistently over the last few years), and a fun match-up between a Jefco and Centennial League team that don't traditionally match up. On this side you have 8 total state championships won. All by Cherry Creek, though Mountain Vista and Chatfield have been to the finals twice. On another side note, there are three sons of former 5A head baseball coaches playing on Friday. 

Cherry Creek vs. Chatfield: 10:00 AM

At one point this season The Cherry Creek Bruins (17-4) were 3 and 3 on the season, had just lost 14-3 to another Final 8 team Regis, and were maybe questioning themselves a little because they had turned over a lot of talent from a team that was ranked nationally in 2013. Then they realized they are Cherry Creek and ran off 14 wins in 15 games to win the Centennial League. In District play they plated 1 run in the first against Monarch which was all they needed to win 1-0, and had another close game against Mountain Range 7-4. Seniors Grant Farrell .492 26 RBI 3HR, Matt Rindal .444 21 RBI 2 HR, Ryan Robb .427 27 RBI 3 HR and Sean Robinson .449 have helped lead a very consistent and balanced offense all season with the help of Juniors Blake Goldsberry (son of former Mountain Vista head baseball coach and longtime CC assistant Mark Goldsberry) .347 17 runs, and Aeneas Roberson .453 26 runs 8 doubles. Senior Justin Jeronimus has been the leader on the mound for Cherry Creek. Coming off a complete game victory in districts over Mountain Range, he is 5-0 on the season posting a 1.78 ERA.

The Chatfield Chargers (19-2) are back in the Final 8 for the first time since 2008 when they were close to taking the title home that year. Chatfield had two nail-biting games in the district round having a tough first game against Doherty. Chatfield was the number #1 Seed out of the 32 teams in district and was down 4-2 in the bottom of the 7th only to tie it up, and then came through in the 8th with a walk-off home run. The Chargers would play another close game in the District Championship in the 4-2 win over Grand Junction Central. Senior and Benedictine College commit Matt Jarecki is the Chargers big hitter in the lineup. (500 6 HR, 29 RBI, 11 2B), but he isn't the only one. They have 30 homeruns as a team spread out through 9 hitters. Seniors Blake Moore has 5, Jacob Falbo 4, Salt Lake CC commit Nick Chamberlain and Garden City commit Mason Brown with 3 with junior Kyle Winkler with 3 also. It's also a senior led pitching staff with Chamberlain, Patrick Barder, and Lamar CC commit Travis Schnoor who have a combined win total of 11-0 with over 90 k's between the three of them. 

Chaparral vs. Mountain Vista:

The last time these two teams played in league the final score was 2-1. Both teams had two hits. We should probably expect another close matchup between two athletic teams. For Mountain Vista (18-3) they got a chance to host in Districts and they shutout their guests, beating Denver East 3-0 and Grand Junction 5-0. All season they have played with a ton of confidence with Washington State commit Nick Leonard takes the mound. He carries a minuscule ERA to the state playoffs hovering right under 1.00. to go with over 80 K's in over 60 innings pitch with 8 wins. The team has a nice balance of seniors and juniors getting the job done. Seniors Jack Strunc, Michael Dunnebecke, and Tyler Tullis have provided the plus .400 average while senior Dylan Formby has had some timely home runs (7 total). Grand Canyon CC commit Marc Mumper helps set the table at the top of the lineup with leading the team with 25 runs scored and hitting at a .370 mark. 

As for Chaparral (13-8) they are always a fun team to watch. The Wolverines are athletic, can hit for average, power, and as always can play the small ball game as well as anyone in the state. In the district round at Columbine they found themselves in a scary spot down 5-0 to a very underrated Prairie View Team. Then they plated 7 in the bottom of the 4th and won 11-8. They did not look back the rest of the day including a very impressive win over a Columbine team that looked primed for a state championship run. Winning the game over Columbine was not a surprise, but in the fashion they did in a 12-3 victory holding the Rebels to only two hits could have been considered one. Chaparral has rode the arms of two senior pitchers, big left-handed workhorse Jacob Hernandez who stands in at an imposing 6-4, 250 lbs, and Brad Brown. Hernandez and Brown have thrown 83 of their 137 innings played, and one thing to be sure of is that they compete on the mound. Their offense gets spread around, however senior Josh Nicol has been consistent all season hitting .456, and if you want to see an athlete, watch Vanderbilt commit Keenan Eaton. If you sit in the last row at All-City you will be able to hear the exhale in his swing. Kid gets his money's worth and is a 5 tool player who plays with a ton of confidence. 

On a side note in this game, two sons of former legendary coaches will be playing against each other in this game. Keenan Eaton, son of Steve Eaton who opened up Chaparral, and Marc Mumper, son of Dave Mumper who opened up Highlands Ranch and finished coaching at ThunderRidge. Dave and Steve used to battle against each other in the Continental League and now they will get a chance to see their sons battle on Friday at All-City. 

Good luck to these 8 talented teams. It's going to be a fun weekend of baseball.