(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
DENVER — Rocky Mountain coach Scott Bullock had a designated hitter for left fielder Brady Morris in the Lobos’ first game of the day.
Maybe he shouldn’t have. Morris blasted a two-run home run in his first at-bat of the second game and it was the start of a good day for the Rocky Mountain offense.
The Lobos grabbed a narrow 7-6 win over Cherry Creek to guarantee advancement in the Class 5A state baseball tournament.
“It’s great that we’re in the Final 4,” Bullock said. “But the only advantage in this tournament is going 3-0. We have to understand that tomorrow against a good Mountain Vista team.”
This was the second time that the Lobos (18-5 overall) had to battle against the Bruins. Cherry Creek grabbed a 2-0 lead thank to Tanner O’Tremba, who tripled in the first to score Cody Schultz. O’Tremba would score on the next play as Andrew Chavez drove a sacrifice fly to right field.
But Morris’ home run in the second tied things up for the Lobos. He went 2-for-2 on the day, but reached base in all three of his plate appearances and scored three runs. He has been working on his hitting in hopes of providing some kind of spark for his team and Sunday was the day that he came through.
“I’ve really been working,” he said. “I’ve been struggling at the plate this year and at practice I’ve been focusing on staying up the middle and I guess on that first at-bat it really showed.”
The Bruins (17-6) regained the lead in the third. Brice Martinez stood on third base, with O’Tremba on first, and hard-hit ground ball from Chavez went off the glove of pitcher Jake Campbell. He corralled the ball and get the out at first, but Martinez crossed the plate and the Bruins once again had the lead.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
O’Tremba added another run on a Tyler Schultz double. Defensively, coach Marc Johnson opted to go back to Jake Lawrence, who threw 22 pitches in Creek’s 4-2 win over Legacy earlier in the day.
Lawrence got himself into trouble in the bottom of the fifth as an attempted sacrifice bunt from Tyler Hyland resulted in the pitcher overthrowing first baseman Gunnar Garcia.
One run came into score and runners sat on first and second with nobody out. The tying run came in as Lawrence balked and it was John Sorensen, the winning pitcher against Rock Canyon, who drove in the go-ahead run.
For the second time this season, Rocky Mountain was down to Creek and found a way to rally.
“I don’t want to say we’re rivals because we only play them once a year,” Lobos pitcher and infielder John Sorensen said. “There’s just something about Cherry Creek that you go in and you know they’re going to be good. We have to go out and compete.”
Up 7-4 heading into the seventh inning, Creek wasn’t about to just let the Lobos end the day undefeated. Isaac Kron and Schultz walked and Bullock immediately took the bat out of O’Tremba’s hands with an intentional walk to follow.
With the bases loaded, Chavez ripped a single that scored two. But Tyler Schultz struck out and Jed Malaschok flew out to left field to end the game.
“It gave us a shot to at least make us feel like we were still in it and we had a chance,” Johnson said. “We just made too many mistakes early.”
Rocky Mountain is set to face Mountain Vista – also the winners of two games on Sunday – while Cherry Creek has to await the winner of Legend and Dakota Ridge.
Creek is now a game away from elimination. The showdown between Rocky Mountain and Mountain Vista will determine who heads into the second weekend of the tournament with a distinct advantage.