THORNTON — The only man to coach the 11-year-old Chaparral baseball program can do so for what he hopes is two more weeks.
Steve Eaton, who will retire at the end of the season, watched his Wolverines survive a big scare in the first round against Brighton and then score a come-from-behind, 6-4 victory over Green Mountain in the District 7 title game Saturday at Horizon High School.
Chaparral (15-6) advances to the eight-team Class 5A double-elimination tournament to play defending champion Rocky Mountain on Friday at Cherokee Trail.
“This is the biggest day of the year, with the most on the line,” said Eaton, who coached at Gateway before moving to the new Parker school in 1997. “Not to discount what’s next, but you certainly got to win two on this day, and they are both do or die.
“You’ve got to find a way, and they did it.”
Shortly after the Wolverines got out of a second-and-third, no-out jam in the seventh inning against Brighton (14-5), they quickly found themselves down 2-0 to the 26th-seeded Rams.
Green Mountain starting pitcher Steve Poe jumped all over a Tim Billingsley fastball and sent it over the center-field fence.
“We had an answer right away, and that really helps your pitcher’s confidence,” Eaton said.
Chaparral’s Tylar Schmunk matched Poe’s two-run blast with one of his own, after an error kept the inning alive. Two batters later Blair Roberts’ triple scored Jordan Serena, who also reached on an error.
“You’ve got to give them credit. We got up on top of them and they came right back on us,” said Green Mountain coach Vince Schade, whose team finished 14-7. “Their three- and four-hole hitters are the real deal.”
Pat Hirschberg, the three-hole hitter, sealed the deal for Chaparral with a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning.
“He threw me a fastball first pitch and I knew he’d throw another, and I was looking for it and took advantage of it,” said Hirschberg, who is looking forward to next weekend. “We are glad to get these out of the way and can’t wait for next week.
TITLE GAME
Green Mountain 200 110 0 — 4 5 2
Chaparral 031 101 x 6 11 1
Green Mountain — Baldini 3b 4-0-0-0, Tracey 1b 3-2-1-0, Poe p-cf 3-1-1-2, Angeli ss 3-0-1-1, Wollenzin c 2-0-0-0, MacTaggart cr 0-0-0-0, Hunt 2b 3-0-0-0, Newman cf 3-1-0-0, Corrick lf 3-0-2-1, Baggett rf 2-0-0-0, Trager ph 1-0-0-0, Everman p 0-0-0-0. Totals 27-4-5-4.
Chaparral — Serena 3b 4-1-2-0, Roberts 2b 4-0-1-1, Hirschberg rf 3-2-2-1, Burton 1b-p 3-0-1-1, Wallace ss 3-0-0-0, Graff dh 3-1-1-0, Higman ph 1-0-0-0, Matthews lf-p-1b 3-0-1-0, Duffy c 3-1-2-0, Martelon cr 0-0-0-0, Schmunk cf 3-1-1-2, Pachelli lf 0-0-0-0. Totals 30-6-11-5.
E — Baldini, Angeli; Wallace. LOB — Green Mountain 4; Chaparral 10. DP — Green Mountain 1. 2B — Tracey; Hirschberg, Serena. 3B — Roberts. HR — Poe, one on in first; Schmunk, one on in second; Hirschberg, solo in sixth.
Batteries — Poe, Everman (4) and Wollenzin; Billingsley, Matthews (5), Burton (7) and Duffy. W — Billingsley (4-0). L — Poe (2-3). WP — Poe; Billingsley. PB — Duffy. Time — 1:26.
GAME 1
GREEN MOUNTAIN 6, HORIZON 0
Green Mountain 330 000 0— 6 9 0
Horizon 000 000 0— 0 7 3
Hunt and Wollenzin; Kessler and Padron. W — Hunt (5-1), 5 K’s, 2 BBs. L — Kessler (3-1), 6 K’s, 3 BBs. Highlights — Baldini, GM, 2-for-4, run scored; Tracey, GM, 2-for-4, 2 runs scored; Angeli, GM, 2-for-4, 2B, 2 runs scored, 3 RBIs; Wollenzin, GM, 1-for-4, 2B; Gussman, H, 2-for-4; Morrizon, H, 1-for-3, 2B.
GAME 2
CHAPARRAL 3, BRIGHTON 2
Brighton 000 000 2— 2 2 2
Chaparral 000 102 x— 3 5 2
Turney, Gautier (6) and Labor; Schweiss and Graff. W — Schweiss (5-1), 11 K’s, 1 BB. L — Turney (4-1), 3 K’s, BB. HR — T. Martinez, B, one on in seventh. Highlights — Graff, C, 2-for-2, 2 runs scored, 2 stolen bases; Higman, C, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs; Watts, B, 1-for-3, stolen base.
