LAKEWOOD — It’s easy living when you’re a good pitcher with bunch of angry bats behind you.
Dakota Ridge starter Joey Jaramillo threw his first pitch Saturday with a five-run lead against Arvada West and didn’t really have to worry as the Eagles kept on bashing.
“We hit the ball all over the place,” the right-hander said.
“It’s not always about home runs. It was about base hits this time.”
The Eagles banged out 14 hits at All Star Park, including five doubles, to win their seventh straight with a 17-3 mauling of the Wildcats in a Class 5A Jefferson County League matchup.
Senior catcher J.C. Ochoa hit two doubles, and third baseman Eric Cain and center fielder Drew Phelan drove in three runs apiece as the Eagles improved to 8-1, 2-0 in Jeffco while dumping the Wildcats to 4-8, 1-1.
Jaramillo threw just four innings, allowing one run on four singles and a double and no walks. The Eagles scored five runs in the first inning and were up 13-0 after three as the Wildcats imploded.
The Eagles got hits from eight of their nine starting batters.
“I don’t even know what their record is. We don’t even look at them anymore because every team is good,” said Cain, who was 3-for-5 at the plate. “They’re a team that can swing the bat in Jeffco, and you never know what’s going to happen.”
A-West starter Nick Capra walked the first two batters he faced before surrendering four consecutive hits, including a two-run double to shortstop Alex Ellison. In the third inning, the right-hander hit three batters, the last with the bases loaded as Dakota Ridge scored eight runs on just three hits.
Capra, who was taken out of the game with one out in the third inning, allowed 12 runs on six hits, and his control issues spread around the diamond.
Capra threw three wild pitches, starting catcher Chris Shine allowed three passed balls and the Wildcats committed three errors.
“Against a good team like that, you can’t start the way we did,” A-West skipper Jim Capra said. “Once they put up five in the first, you got to do something at the plate, which we didn’t do. So, by then it was pretty much a done deal.”
The only highlight for the Wildcats was a two-run homer by shortstop Luke Campbell off reliever Andrew Melton in the fifth inning.
Dakota Ridge 508 13 — 17 14 0
Arvada West 001 02 — 3 6 3
Dakota Ridge — Phelan cf 2-3-1-3, Fern ph 1-0-0-0, Melton 2b-p 4-3-2-1, Cain 3b 5-2-3-3, Ochoa c 3-0-2-2, McCulley cr-rf 1-3-1-1, Jaramillo p 0-0-0-0, Porter 2b 0-0-0-0, Whitaker dh 4-1-1-1, Ellison ss 2-2-1-2, Rosco rf 3-0-1-1, Brown 1b 3-1-1-1, VanderVelde 1b 1-0-1-0, Pritchett lf 2-1-0-0, Espinoza lf 1-1-0-0. Totals 32-17-14-15.
Arvada West — Shine c 0-0-0-0, Leary p 0-0-0-0, Sammons p 0-0-0-0, Steele dh 3-0-0-0, Capra p-c 2-1-1-0, Campbell ss 3-2-2-2, Gorski 3b 2-0-2-1, Masden ph 1-0-0-0, DeLorenzo cf 2-0-0-0, Heagerty cr-rf 0-0-0-0, Ross 1b 2-0-0-0, Hill rf-cf 2-0-1-0, Harrison lf 2-0-0-0, Martinez 2b 1-0-0-0, Mestdagh 1-0-0-0. Totals 21-3-6-3.
E — Campbell, Groski, Shine. LOB — Dakota Ridge 7, Arvada West 4. SB — Melton. 2B — Ochoa 2, Ellison, Phelan, Melton; Gorski. HR — Campbell, one on in fifth.
Batteries — Jaramillo, Melton (5) and Ochoa; Capra, Leary (3), Sammons (4) and Shine, Capra (4). W — Jaramillo (2-0). L — Capra (1-2). HBP — Ellison (by Capra in third), Pritchett (by Capra in third), Phelan (by Capra in third). WP — Capra 3, Leary. PB — Shine 3. T — 1:36.
