Highlands Ranch – Fairview entered Saturday’s Class 5A district rounds with just about the worst seed (29th of 32 teams) and record (9-10).
But the adage of good pitching beats good hitting was further underlined in baseball lore by the Knights, who rode two terrific pitching performances to advance to their first try at the big- school, double-elimination format since it was instituted in 2003.
In the District 3 title game, Fairview’s Reese McGraw tossed a five-hitter in a 6-2 decision of Monarch on a long, cold, rainy and windy day.
In the first round, the Knights’ Chris Mezger scattered six hits in shutting down host, Continental League champion and fourth-seeded Highlands Ranch 7-0.
In all, the Knights believed.
“I kept selling our guys all week that we were in a tough (Centennial) league and we could beat a great team or be a bad team,” coach Rick Harig said. “We had some tough losses that could have gone either way. The key was let’s just play a good game and see if it’s enough. The pitchers were in command.”
Both went the distance. McGraw struck out eight, was touched for a run in the second inning after he walked Monarch’s leadoff hitter and surrendered a home run in the sixth, but never was seriously challenged.
He stranded five runners, benefited from solid defense – Fairview had only one error in 14 innings – and recorded 10 groundball outs.
“The end of the season has been good to me,” said McGraw (2-2), noting his complete-game shutout victory against Overland and hitting a home run in the previous game against Boulder. “We just had to come out and play like we know we can.”
Offensively, Paul Singh rolled to two stand-up triples and knocked in two runs. The Anderson brothers, Jake and Adam, added run-scoring singles and the Knights scored another on a safety squeeze. Adam Anderson had two hits and scored twice.
Monarch, which knocked off Cherry Creek (12-8) 9-5 in its opener, had a couple of chances, but its first five hitters were a combined 1-for-14.
“That’s pitching,” Monarch coach Carmen Rivas said. “Any time you get a hot pitcher and the guy’s throwing well, it stops good hitting.”
Monarch ended 11-10.
In the Knights’ opener, the 6-foot-10 Mezger kept Highlands Ranch (16-4) off-balance by mixing his fastball with effective off-speed deliveries. He improved to 6-2.
Never mind the Knights had just four hits – three were homers; two-run shots for Jake Anderson and Cody Butler, and a three-run blast by Nick Douse.
“Not bad for the 29th seed,” McGraw said. “Anything can happen.”
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
FAIRVIEW 6, MONARCH 2
Fairview 040 100 01 – 6 5 0
Monarch 010 001 00 – 2 5 1
Fairview – Singh cf 3-2-2-2, Willis lf 1-0-0-0, Scavo cr 0-0-0-0, J. Anderson c 4-0-1-1, Burmeister 1b 2-0-0-0, Jacquemard ph 0-0-0-1, McGraw p 3-0-0-0, Dawson ph 0-0-0-0, Tharp 3b 3-1-0-0, Frederick rf 2-1-0-0, Butler 2b 3-0-0-0, A. Anderson ss 3-2-2-1. Totals 24-6-5-3.
Monarch – C. Soole cf 4-0-0-0, Ray 2b 2-0-1-0, Manders 1b 3-0-0-0, DiCarlo ss 2-1-0-0, Reichstein dh 1-0-0-0, Maltese dh 2-0-0-0, Zientarski 3b 3-0-1-0, Chandler rf 3-0-2-1, Cole c 3-1-1-1, Meyer lf 3-0-0-0, Caballo p 0-0-0-0, T. Soole p 0-0-0-0. Totals 26-2-5-2.
E – DiCarlo. LOB – Fairview 5, Monarch 5. SB – Willis 2, DiCarlo. SAC – Singh, Willis, Jacquemard.
3B – Singh 2. HR – Cole, solo in sixth.
Batteries – McGraw and J. Anderson; Ceballo, T. Soole and Cole. W – McGraw (2-2). L – Ceballo (3-1). WP – McGraw. HBP – Dawson (by T. Soole).
FIRST ROUND
FAIRVIEW 7, HIGHLANDS RANCH 0
Fairview 200 023 0 – 7 4 1
Highlands Ranch 000 000 0 – 0 6 0
Mezger and J. Anderson; Steinmetz, Weimar (6) and Blakely. W – Mezger, 3 Ks, 0 BB (6-2). L – Steinmetz (5-1).
HR – J. Anderson, F, one in in first; Butler, F, one on in fifth; Douse, F, two on in sixth.
MONARCH 9, CHERRY CREEK 5
Cherry Creek 001 103 0 – 5 7 0
Monarch 022 230 x – 9 7 1
Wagner, Blackford (4), Snyder (5), Jacobs (5) and Haines; Tallman, Ceballo (5) and Cole. W – Tallman (5-3). L – Wagner (2-3). HR – Weliver, CC, one on in sixth.
