Wheat Ridge freshman Dominic Bronk, far right, is greeted by teammates after scoring in the first inning Saturday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
WHEAT RIDGE — Keeping within reach of the Class 4A Jeffco League baseball leaders was the task for Evergreen and Wheat Ridge on Saturday afternoon.
While the conference schedule is only about a third of the way done, the Cougars and Farmers can’t afford to fall too far behind league-leading and defending 4A state champion Valor Christian (9-3, 3-0 in league).
“It was great to get this win. We are still in the hunt now,” Wheat Ridge senior Travis Cowen said after a 4-2 home victory over Evergreen. “We still have our three goals as a team that we are striving for.”
Those three goals for the No. 9 ranked team in the current CHSAANow.com 4A baseball poll are league, district and state championship titles. However, the Farmers (8-3, 2-1) know the road won’t be easy, just as it was Saturday against the Cougars (7-5, 1-2).
Wheat Ridge took an early 2-0 lead with a 2-run rally with two outs in the bottom of the first inning. Evergreen junior lefty pitcher Andrew Stephens wasn’t able to make it out of the first inning. The Cougars’ ace Ben Muscatello took the mound for Evergreen after Stephens gave up three hits and a pair of walks.
Wheat Ridge senior Travis Cowan, right, throws out Evergreen’s Lucas Berninzoni on Saturday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Evergreen coach Steve Jones didn’t start Muscatello because of a high pitch count already this season, but the junior right-hander was solid after coming in relief giving up five hits in five and 1/3 innings.
“We didn’t swing the bat great, but we swung it better,” Wheat Ridge coach Adam Miller said. “(Muscatello) is one of the top pitchers in the league, but we didn’t have a ton of strikeouts. We came through when we needed to.”
Specifically, the Farmers came through in the bottom of the fifth inning. Evergreen had tied things up 2-2 with RBIs from junior Jack Patterson and Muscatello in the second and fifth innings.
Junior Jack Marvel walked and freshman Dominic Bronk singled to start the bottom of the fifth inning for Wheat Ridge. Junior Abe Apodaca stepped to the plate and delivered his third hit of the game with an RBI double down the right field line.
“I got my swing together at practice yesterday. I needed to stay confident with my approach,” Apodaca said. “I knew they were going to throw me a curveball because I had hit my first two singles off fastballs. I was a little early on it, but I still took it down the line.”
Wheat Ridge’s Dominic Bronk, right, shows he still has the ball after tagging out Evergreen’s Ryker Eagen. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Freshman Cael Yenzer hit a fly ball to right field with one out and Bronk on third base. Bronk eventually scored on the wild play that featured an errant throw and Evergreen catcher Taylor Gray unable to keep control of the ball when he tagged Bronk at the plate.
Evergreen threatened again, loading the bases in the top of the sixth inning with one out. Wheat Ridge sophomore Aaron Arcilise took over on the mound for Cowen and did his job. Arcilise induced a ground ball back to the pitcher and struck out Gray to get the Farmers out of the jam.
“It’s great having them because they have definitely stepped up and we can count on them,” Cowen said of Wheat Ridge handful of freshmen and sophomores that are contributing on the varsity level. “They are going to do their best to make this team successful.”
The Cougars couldn’t get anything going in the top of the seventh inning to suffer their third loss in fourth games.
“We had a lot of chances and didn’t execute,” Jones said. “I believe in our guys. I know they have a lot of good baseball in them.”
Evergreen hosts D’Evelyn (4-8, 1-2) at 4 p.m. Monday. The Jaguars are in the same boat as the Cougars, trying to find enough victories in the tough conference to move up in the RPI standings to qualify for the postseason.
Wheat Ridge hosts No. 5 Green Mountain (10-1, 2-1) at 4 p.m. Monday. The Rams suffered their first loss of the season Saturday. No. 7 Valor took an 8-3 victory.
Wheat Ridge’s Carlos Shippley, right, slides into second base as Evergreen’s Mike Kapner receives a throw during the success steal. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)