Aurora – The loudest cheer of a long day of baseball Saturday at Grandview was debatable – it was either after the No. 2-seeded Grandview Wolves won two games by the 10-run rule to advance to next weekend’s Class 5A Championship Series, or when it was announced earlier that top-seeded district rival Cherry Creek was losing by eight runs.
But there was no debating the following: Grandview (18-3) got significant contributions from multiple players as it has all season long, and is playing sound baseball at the most opportune time. The Wolves had no trouble in ripping Horizon 13-2, then did it again almost exactly the same way in a 13-3 decision of Fruita Monument.
Next up: The winner of the district at Doherty, which was postponed until Monday.
The Wolves, here for the first time in school history, will gladly wait amidst their excitement.
“Absolutely,” Grandview coach Dean Adams said. “How many times have we been here, won the first game, then lost the second? It’s tough (to advance).”
Grandview advanced as a group – all phases of its game were on display and there were contributions from multiple players.
Center fielder Aaron Cain ripped a two-run home run in the first inning, plated another on a hard grounder that wasn’t handled at third base by Fruita Monument and had a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Sean O’Leary was 3-for-4, Nate Schmoll, Cole Leonida and Pat Huddleston each had two hits and Grandview batted around twice.
The Wolves committed no errors, starter Jared Schlehuber was bailed out nicely by O’Leary in the fourth and the school’s followers, who have experienced semifinals showings this school year in the other two big boys’ sports, football and basketball, are getting braver.
“We’re just trying to keep it going,” Cain said. “We’ve got a good group of boys and we want more.”
Fruita Monument, which handled Jefferson County’s Dakota Ridge 8-6 in other first-round action, had no answers and was in trouble from the first pitch. In addition to the three-spot it gave up in the first, Grandview plated six more in the second.
The Wildcats, who finished 14-7, used four pitchers, plunked three Wolves batters, had a runner thrown out at the plate when trying to score from second base on a wild pitch and trailing 9-1, and never managed the big hit in stranding seven runners through the first three innings.
But it was a Grandview kind of day. “It’s special,” Adams said. “I’m going to talk to them more (this) week. Our goals have to be higher. You can’t be satisfied.”
Championship
Fruita Monument 012 00 – 3 8 4
Grandview 360 04 – 13 13 0
Fruita Monument – Via 1b-3b 2-0-0-0, Ballegeer 2b 3-0-1-0, Hansen ss-p 3-0-2-0, Ferguson 3b 0-0-0-0, Olson p-1b-ss 2-1-0-0, Harper lf 2-2-1-0, L. Fisher c 3-0-1-0, Kovach cr-1b 0-0-0-0, Neptune rf 2-0-1-1, Creasy dh 2-0-2-1, N. Fisher 3b-p-ss 0-0-0-0, Hamilton p 0-0-0-0, Morales cf 0-0-0-1. Totals 19-3-8-3.
Grandview – Tagmyer 2b 3-2-1-0, Schmoll 3-2-2-0, Schlehuber 2-2-0-2, Vetanze cr 0-0-0-0, Leonida c 2-0-2-2, Anderson cr 0-2-0-0, Cain cf 3-2-1-3, Orgill dh 3-0-1-2, Albritton ss 0-0-0-0, O’Leary lf-p 4-2-3-1, Huddleston 1b 4-0-2-0, Hewitt 3b-lf 3-1-1-0. Totals 27-13-13-10.
E – Via, L. Fisher, Ballegeer, Kovach. DP – Grandview. LOB – Fruita Monument 7, Grandview 7. SB – Tagmyer, Hansen. SAC – Neptune, Morales. HR – Cain, G, one in first. Batteries – Olson, Hamilton (2), N. Fisher (2), Hansen and L. Fisher; Schlehuber, O’Leary (4) and Leonida. W – Schlehuber. L – Olson.
HBP – Leonida (by Olson); Hewitt (by Olson); Tagmyer (by Olson); Morales (by Schlehuber). WP – Hamilton, Schlehuber. SF – Schlehuber, Leonida, Cain.
FIRST ROUND
GRANDVIEW 13, HORIZON 2
Horizon 002 00 – 2 4 1
Grandview 650 02 – 13 13 0
Castiglione, Blair (1), Delellis (4) and Poffenbarger; Orgill and Leonida. W – Orgill (5-0). L – Castiglione. HR – Tagmyer, G, solo in first; O’Leary, G, grand slam in second; Leonida, G, twop on in seventh. Highlights – O’Leary, G, 3-for-3, 5 RBIs; Leonida, G, 3-for-3, 2 RBIs, 3 runs scored; Schmill, G, 2-for-4, 2 RBIs; Orgill, G, 2-for-3, 2 RBIs; Huddleston, G, 2-for-3, 2 RBIs.
FRUITA MONUMENT 8, DAKOTA RIDGE 6
Fruita Monument 010 230 0 – 6 6 2
Dakota Ridge 201 320 x – 8 11 2
Land and Gray; Ballegeer, N. Fisher (5) and L. Fishser. W – Ballegeer. L – Land. HR – Baalman, DR, two on in fifth. Highlights – Ballegeer, FM, 3-for-4, 3 runs scored, 2 doubles; Olson, FM, 2-for-4; Baalman, DR, 3-for-4.
Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-820-1714 or at ndevlin@denverpost.com.
