Arvada – It’s March, so Ralston Valley coach Shane Freehling is wondering who will be the face of his Ralston Valley baseball team, which Mustang(s) will lead.
The season is young, but early returns indicate it will involve Brian Chritz and Matt Skipper.
The two were at the front Tuesday, when they batted and pitched the Mustangs past visiting Fruita Monument 8-5.
Ralston Valley, expected to make another run in Class 4A, improved to 2-1; 5A Fruita Monument, on an eastern swing while on spring break, is 2-2.
Chritz, a senior shortstop, ripped two home runs and a double in his first three at-bats for 10 total bases and five runs batted in, and Skipper evened his pitching record at 1-1 and came within two outs of a complete game and contributed three hits.
“We needed to play well, we’re off to a fairly slow start,” Freehling said. “We’re not concerned because you want to be peaking in May. (But) we wanted to play well against good 5A competition. The identity of this team is still yet to surface. We’re trying to figure it out and what it is. The material is in place.”
Lots of it involves Chritz and Skipper. Chritz’s second homer, a two-run shot in the third inning after he bopped a three-run homer in the first, was a laser beam to left field and his double to center in the fifth also flirted with leaving the park.
He added a walk in the sixth.
“Going from indoors to outdoors is hard,” he said, citing weather problems. “But I’ve just kind of found my timing and I was seeing the ball good.”
With a double among his three safeties, Skipper, a junior, also permitted only three runs and four hits through six. He was relieved by Derek Rowe after having a runner reach base on an error and handling a comebacker in the seventh. The Wildcats brought the tying run to the plate, but Rowe got catcher Luke Fisher on a groundout to end it.
Fruita Monument 020 010 2 – 5 7 2
Ralston Valley 303 002 x – 8 11 1
Fruita Monument – Via ss 4-1-2-2, Hamilton 2b 3-0-0-0, Reed ph 1-0-0-0, Barben 3b 4-0-1-0, Olsen 2b 3-1-1-0, Fisher c 3-0-0-0, Hansen cf 3-1-2-0, Neptune p 1-0-1-1, Stern cr 0-0-0-0, Sneddon p 1-0-0-0, Harper dh 3-1-0-0, Hughes rf 0-0-0-0, Etcheverry lf 2-0-0-0, Ferguson ph 1-0-0-0. Totals 29-5-7-3.
Ralston Valley – Faherty 1b 3-0-0-0, Barban 3b 4-2-2-2, Skipper p-1B 4-0-3-1, McLachlan cr 0-2-0-0, Chritz ss 3-2-3-5, Rowe 1b-p 3-0-0-0, Hayes cf 3-0-1-0, Yost 2b 3-0-1-0, Patten dh 3-1-1-0, Shopnitz c 0-0-0-0, Arrieta rf 2-0-0-0, Spirek rf 0-1-0-0. Totals 28-8-11-8.
E – Hamilton, Via, Chritz. LOB – Fruita Monument 6, Ralston Valley 6. DP – Fruita Monument. SAC – Neptune, Faherty. SB – Hayes, Etcheverry, Via,
2B – Hansen, Barban, Skipper, Neptune, Chritz. HR – Chritz, three on in first; one in third.
Batteries – Neptune, Sneddon (5) and Fisher; Skipper, Rowe (7) and Shopnitz. W – Skipper (1-1). L – Neptune (1-1). WP – Neptune, Skipper, Rowe 2. HBP – Olsen (by Skipper); Etcheverry (by Skipper); Rowe (by Neptune).
