University gave Faith Christian its first loss in the 3A tournament on Saturday. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
GREELEY — One long fly ball to right field gave University a breath of life.
During the Class 3A baseball Final 4 at Butch Butler Field, the Bulldogs, playing in their hometown, rode a two-run home run by Jake Spence in the top of the eighth inning to a 4-2 victory over Faith Christian.
The win gave University a chance to play in the 10 a.m. de facto semifinal game Sunday against Manitou Springs, winners of a 10-3 game against Kent Denver later in the afternoon Saturday. The winner of that game will play Faith Christian for the championship at 12:30 p.m.
In a double-elimination format, Faith was the last team to lose in the postseason, meaning the Eagles — champions in 2007 and 2011 in 3A — were already guaranteed a spot in the title game with or without a loss to University.
But Saturday belonged to the Bulldogs.
In a scoreless game through five innings, Spence got things started with a one-out triple in the sixth. Then, Beau Hawley had an RBI single to drive Spence in for the game’s first run. Freshman Kalob Padilla added a sac fly to make it 2-0 University.
Faith Christian answered back in the bottom of the sixth as AJ Stephens had an RBI double and Gabe Hegarty had a sac fly of his own to even things at two. Extra innings began after a scoreless seventh. That’s when Spence came to the plate again.
“I got up there knowing I had a job to do,” the senior said. “We had a guy at second base and I needed to move him over. I had seen the ball really well all day and was making good contact. He threw it inside and I just timed it up and took it.”
Spence — responsible for six of his team’s eight home runs this season — gave it a ride, providing the Bulldogs the chance to reach their first title game since 1997 should they beat Manitou.
University beat Valley and Lamar, but lost to Manitou Springs earlier in the tournament. The Bulldogs have reached three baseball finals, winning 3A in 1992 and 1997 and AA in 1982.
“We always have a dream at the beginning of the year to do it, but this year was different,” Spence said. “We all knew we had the ability to go out and accomplish it.
“A win like this is huge for us, because we knocked off the undefeated team. But we have a lot more work to do to be able to play them again in the championship game. It’s awesome for us.”
Senior pitcher Spencer Wilcox overpowered some hitters on the way to nine strikeouts for the Bulldogs, finishing one out shy of seven innings before having to come out due to the pitch count rule. Wilcox, who came in with an ERA of 0.81, only gave up four hits, three walks and two earned runs to improve to 4-0.
University, which lost to Brush in the semifinals last season, has a record of 20-5 headed into the final day of the season.
“It’s about starting pitching,” Spence said. “We have a great pitcher throwing for us tomorrow in Kalob Padilla. He’s going to go in and throw strikes. All we have to do is play our game.”
The freshman threw the final inning and a third in relief for University on Saturday, giving up no hits and no runs.
As for Faith Christian, the Eagles beat Lamar, Kent Denver and Manitou Springs earlier in the tournament. Faith will be appearing in its third-ever baseball title game after beating Holy Family in 2011 and Erie in 2007. Landon Ford pitched the first seven and a third innings against University, finishing with five strikeouts and four earned runs.
In the second game at Butch Butler Field, one touch of power pushed Manitou Springs into Sunday.
A homer, coming in the top of the second off senior Dominic Archuleta’s bat, was a towering three-run shot to left, giving the Mustangs a 3-0 lead against Kent Denver. Manitou eventually went up 8-0 in the fifth, rolling into Sunday’s matchup against University with a 10-3 victory over Kent Denver.
“He threw me one high and inside and I just stroked it,” Archuleta said. “Luckily it stayed fair and went out. It just picked up from there.”
The Mustangs outhit the Sun Devils 15-6 and Travis Struble, finding his way out of trouble in a few instances, did the rest with a solid performance on the mound — 6 2/3 innings, six hits, two earned runs, two walks and nine strikeouts.
Manitou Springs has a chance to appear in its second-ever baseball finals with a win over University. The first came when the team lost to Broomfield Broomfield in the 1966 AA championship game.
For a lineup that kept churning out hit inning after inning, Sean Whalen had an RBI single with two outs in the top of the tirrd to drive in Struble and make it 4-0 Mustangs. During a four-run fifth, Struble had an RBI single, Whalen an RBI double, Dylan Hickox an RBI double and Riley Manzo an RBI triple. That gave Manitou Springs an 8-0 lead.
Lucas Culver added an RBI single in the sixth to make it 9-1. Brennan Allen took advantage of a bases-loaded situation later in the inning, drawing a walk to push it to 10-1 and live another day.
“I’m just happy to be in the situation we are,” Archuleta said. “I love my team. I wouldn’t want to be in this situation with anybody else and I just love the way we are hitting right now.”
Manitou Springs, which also beat St. Mary’s, University and lost to Faith Christian earlier in the tournament, had a 4-for-4 performance out of Whalen. The Mustangs have a 16-9 record.
“We just have to come out and play hard against University,” Archuleta said. “We’ve seen them. They definitely want revenge. They are a real good ball club. They stroke the ball. We just have to play hard, execute and play Mustang baseball.”
As for Kent Denver, the Sun Devils were never able to match the early momentum of Manitou Springs.
Will McKissick had an RBI single to put Kent onto the scoreboard with two outs left in the bottom of the fifth. The Sun Devils loaded the bases for Noah VanSickle with one out in the seventh, who drove in two runs with a single to make it 10-3.
Kent Denver finished its season with a 15-9 record. They took out Eaton, a huge upset of the defending champion Reds to start the tournament, while also losing to Faith Christian and beating St. Mary’s.