Arvada – Ben Ahlman and Daniel Cattau, two of Lutheran’s four senior starters, discovered as freshmen what it’s like to play in the Class 3A baseball regionals.
Because they helped the Lights beat Faith Christian for the first time in their careers on Wednesday, they will be reliving the experience.
Ahlman pitched a five-hitter and Cattau, batting No. 9 in the order, drove in three key runs as Lutheran earned the fourth seed in the 3A Metropolitan League district semifinals with an 8-4 road victory.
“We wanted this one pretty bad,” said Ahlman, who had lost a 2-1 decision to Faith Christian (11-8) a week earlier. “In my four years, we hadn’t beaten them once before today, so we wanted this one.”
Lutheran entered district play as the No. 5 seed based on that loss after both teams finished with 6-4 league records. The Lights (11-10), who advanced to the second round with an 8-4 win over Clear Creek on Tuesday, will play for regional seeding purposes in Saturday’s Metro district doubleheader at Kent Denver. Lutheran opens against league champion Denver Christian.
The bad news is that Ahlman (4-2) probably won’t be available for anything but relief duty against Denver Christian, which gave him his only other loss.
“That’s the disadvantage of having to play today,” said Lutheran coach Dan Gehrke, who probably will start Cattau against Denver Christian.
Ahlman allowed just two earned runs and held Faith Christian to one earned run and three hits after the Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Lutheran 010 041 2 – 8 9 4
Faith Christian 100 120 0 – 4 5 3
Lutheran – Schuessler 2b 4-0-1-1, Garmatz ss 3-0-0-0, Ahlman p 3-0-1-0, Leintz cr 0-1-0-0, Nathan c 4-2-2-3, Gray 3b 4-0-1-0, Mott lf 4-1-1-0, Rhodes rf 3-2-1-0, Vanderhyde cf 1-0-0-0, Pelton cr 0-1-0-0, Cattau 1b 3-1-2-3. Totals 29-8-9-7.
Faith Christian – Schaffer ss 4-2-1-0, Carbajal 1b 4-1-1-0, Fox cf 4-1-2-1, B. Bonati p 3-0-1-1, McBeth cr-p 0-0-0-0, Hegarty c 3-0-0-0, A. Bonati dh 3-0-0-0, Rayfield rf 0-0-0-0, Wall 2b 3-0-0-0, Anderson 3b 3-0-0-0, Ohlinger lf 1-0-0-0, Funk cr-lf 1-0-0-0. Totals 29-4-5-2.
E – Garmatz, Ahlman, Nathan, Gray, Carbajal, B. Bonati, Anderson. LOB – Lutheran 5, Faith Christian 5. SB – McBeth. SAC – Garmatz.
2B – Cattau, Fox. 3B – Schaffer. HR – Nathan, L, one in seventh.
Batteries – Ahlman and Nathan; B. Bonati, McBeth (6) and Hegarty. W – Ahlman (4-2). L – B. Bonati (4-4). WP – McBeth.
