Highlands Ranch – High school baseball is a little crazy in Colorado, what with the unpredictable weather and jam-packing the final two weeks of the regular season in April with an assortment of makeups that test pitching depth as well as patience.
Case in point: Denver Christian, which has yet to play a nonleague game and is still trying to catch Class 3A Metropolitan League-leading Faith Christian.
“That’s the way it is,” Crusaders senior Ryan Dykstra said Saturday after pitching his team to victory in the second game of a doubleheader sweep of Holy Family.
Denver Christian downed the Tigers 5-2 in the first game at its Brian Bohanon home field, then rode Dykstra to a 5-1 victory.
In improving to 9-2 overall and league (Holy Family is 6-4), the Crusaders are gearing up for what they hope will be a roaring finish.
“We’ll have five games a week, six games a week, then it will snow three of the days,” Dykstra said.
But there was nothing fickle about the Crusaders on a gorgeous Saturday after a week of gloom, cloud cover and wind.
Offensively, they strung together just enough hits for reasonably comfortable breathing room; defensively, they rode strong pitching.
In the opener, Jeff Ross struck out 12 Tigers and retired seven of the last eight hitters he faced in going the distance.
In the second game, Dykstra improved to 3-1 by twirling a four-hitter and stranding six Tigers over a four-inning stretch. He needed relief help from G.J. Henry, who got the final two outs, but Crusaders coach Tyler Amidon said Dykstra’s performance was his “best game.”
“My curveball felt like I had every single seam,” Dykstra said.
Ross also was a hitting star by going 3-for-3 in the opener with three doubles, then blasting a three-run home run to dead center field in the sixth inning of the second game for much-needed insurance. Henry contributed four hits over the two games.
Amidon, whose team earlier dropped a doubleheader to Faith Christian and has a makeup with perennial power Eaton (Reds coach Jim Danley was in attendance), said: “It sounds corny, but we have to take it one pitch at a time. … The nonleague games are not even a huge priority now, the league is. We have to be ready.”
FIRST GAME
Holy Family 002 000 0 – 2 5 2
Denver Christian 400 100 x – 5 9 1
Holy Family – Hernandez cf 4-1-0-1, Gonzales ss 4-0-2-0, Coday c 2-0-1-0, Pries 3b 2-0-0-1, Lopez 2b 3-0-0-0, Guzman lf 3-0-0-0, Quintana 1b 2-0-0-0, Harris rf 3-0-1-0, Genders dh 3-1-1-0, Beck p 0-0-0-0. Totals 26-2-5-2.
Denver Christian – Bailey cf 3-1-1-0, Henry ss 4-2-3-0, Ross p 3-1-3-2, Bennett 3b 3-0-0-0, Van Kooten 2b 2-0-0-2, Kurtz 1b 2-0-1-0, Ellsworth lf 3-0-0-0, Hamstra c 2-0-0-1, Olson rf 3-1-1-0. Totals 25-5-9-5.
E – Gonzales, Kurtz, Lopez. DP – Holy Family. LOB – Holy Family 6, Denver Christian 7. SB – Genders. 2B – Ross 3, Bailey.
Batteries – Beck and Coday; Ross and Hamstra. W – Ross (2-1). L – Beck (1-2).
HBP – Coday (Ross); Bennett (by Beck); Genders (by Ross). SF – Hamstra, Pries. PB – Hamstra. T – 2:14.
SECOND GAME
Denver Christian 000 002 3 – 5 6 2
Holy Family 010 000 0 – 1 4 3
Denver Christian – Bailey cf 3-1-0-0, Henry ss 4-1-1-0, Ross dh 4-1-1-3, Dykstra p 0-0-0-0, Bennett 3b 4-1-1-0, Van Kooten 2b 2-0-2-0, Hamstra c 1-0-0-1, Kurtz 1b 3-0-0-0, Ellsworth lf 2-0-0-0, Lenderink rf-ss 3-1-1-0, Olson rf 0-0-0-0. Totals 26-5-6-4.
Holy Family – Hernandez cf 3-0-0-0, Gonzales ss 4-0-0-0, Coday c 4-0-1-0, Pries p-3b 3-1-1-0, Lopez 2b 3-0-1-0, Montanez 1b 2-0-0-0, Harris lf 2-0-0-1, Quintana ph 1-0-0-0, Beck 3b 2-0-0-0, Heseman ph 1-0-0-0, Guzman rf 0-0-0-0, Genders dh-p 3-0-1-0. Totals 28-1-4-1.
E – Van Kooten, Dykstra, Gonzales, Pries, Lopez. DP – Holy Family. LOB – Denver Christian 4, Holy Family 7. SB – Gonzales 3, Montanez, Harris, Ellsworth, Henry. 2B – Van Kooten. HR – Ross, two on sixth.
Batteries – Pries, Genders (6) and Coday; Dykstra, Henry (7) and Hamstra. W – Dykstra (3-1). L – Pries (0-1).
Balk – Dykstra. SAC – Van Kooten. T – 1:32.
