Greeley – A word of advice for teams visiting Greeley West’s Butch Butler Field: Be careful where you stretch.
Mountain View decided before Thursday’s Class 4A Northern League showdown to stretch in the middle of center field – a gesture the Spartans took the wrong way.
“That kind of ticked us off a little bit,” Spartans pitcher Seth Bunting said.
Bad idea.
Bunting tossed a one-hitter in five innings and the fourth-ranked Spartans lit up the No. 3 Mountain Lions for the second consecutive year, banging out 13 hits to fuel a 16-2 whipping.
Catcher Seth Budde drove in five runs for the Spartans, including a towering three-run homer to right-center, and Levi Vail knocked in three runs as Greeley West (9-1, 6-0 in league) won its seventh straight to remain undefeated against in-state competition.
The Mountain Lions (5-3, 4-1), who dropped their first game against a 4A opponent this season, rarely hit the ball hard and committed four errors. Starting pitcher Greg Brock weathered the onslaught and managed just one strikeout.
The Mountain Lions, finalists in 2003, were roughed up 15-3 by the Spartans last season.
“Let’s say it how it is: We swung it pretty well, but they helped us out by not playing their best D,” veteran Spartans coach Richard Ziegler said.
Bunting struggled in the first inning as he hit designated hitter Jake Walkowicz to load the bases with one out before walking Brandon Boyer to score center fielder Chris Stine. But Bunting escaped without further harm when he got catcher Thomas Stainbrook to ground into a double play.
“I was trying to do too much,” Bunting said. “I just needed to let my defense work through it.”
Stine managed the Mountain Lions’ sole hit on a sharply hit ball that Vail probably should have snagged in center field had the senior gotten a jump on the ball.
The Spartans tied the game in the bottom of the first and went ahead for good with four runs in the second. Sophomore No. 9 hitter Rex Morgan had a run-scoring double in the second and finished 3-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs.
Budde capped off the pinball offense when he parked the ball over the 380 sign in the fourth inning.
Mountain View 100 10 – 2 1 4
Greeley West 146 5x – 16 13 2
Mountain View – Stine cf 3-1-1-0, Litt lf 2-0-0-0, Brock p 2-0-0-0, Walkowicz dh 1-0-0-0, Trujillo rf 0-0-0-0, Boyer 3b 0-0-0-0, Hall 1b 2-0-0-0, Stainbrook c 2-0-0-0, Diener rf 1-0-0-0, Riggenbach ss 1-0-0-0, Channell 3b 0-1-0-0, Smith ph 1-0-0-0, Waddell ph 1-0-0-0. Totals – 16-2-1-0.
Greeley West – Bunting p 2-3-1-1, Vail cf 4-3-2-3, Budde c 3-1-2-5, Buchanan 1b 4-0-2-2, B. Morgan lf 3-1-1-0, Williams 2b 3-2-1-1, Guber ss 3-0-0-0, Schmitt dh 2-3-1-1, Roup rf 0-0-0-0, R. Morgan 3b 3-3-3-2, Koppes cr 0-0-0-0. Totals – 27-16-13-15.
E – Riggenbach 2, Boyer, Channell, Litt; Budde, R. Morgan. LOB – Mountain View 4, Greeley West 3. SB – Litt, Stainbrook. 2B – B. Morgan, Williams, R. Morgan. HR – Budde, two on in fourth.
Batteries – Brock and Stainbrook; Bunting and Budde. HBP – Walkowicz (by Bunting in first), Boyer (by Bunting in fourth); Budde (by Brock in first), Bunting (by Brock in second), Schmitt (by Brock in third).
W – Bunting (2-1). L – Brock (3-1).
