The trophy cases at Thomas Jefferson High are stuffed with gold, a testament to the school’s athletic prowess.
The case displaying baseball hardware is no exception. Lined up in neat rows are plaques proclaiming the Spartans as Denver Prep League champions the past six seasons.
But the two biggest baseball trophies in the case have been dulled by the years. Sitting side by side, they represent the Spartans’ 1966 and 1967 Class AAA state champions. Those clubs, led by shortstop Bill Stearns, first baseman Dudley “Bo” Mitchell, outfielder Rick Corbin and pitcher Matt Sterling, were TJ’s last to win state.
Also on the 1967 team as a late-season call-up from the junior varsity was a 15-year-old sophomore named John Stearns, who years later as a hard-hitting safety for the Colorado Buffaloes football team would earn a memorable nickname. “Bad Dude” went on to play in several major-league All-Star Games as a catcher.
This year’s Spartans appear poised to end that 41-year drought, and in the process show the state that the DPL is more than hoops heaven.
“You know, except for basketball, the Denver Prep League has been down for a while, so it would sure be nice to see TJ win it all,” Bill Stearns said. “I told Coach Humphrey the other day that 41 years is a long time, so it would sure be great. I’m sure all of us guys from that team will be thinking about them and rooting for them.”
East was the last DPL team to win a state baseball title, in 1994 in the second-highest classification. But the Spartans — a powerhouse team with 15 seniors and a .401 team batting average — have the inside track this weekend. TJ, the only Class 4A Final Four team without a postseason loss in the double-elimination tournament, is guaranteed a spot in Saturday’s final. The Spartans (22-2) play the newest Fort Collins school, Fossil Ridge (19-5), on Friday at Lakewood’s All-Star Park, while Skyline (19-5) faces Ralston Valley (21-3) in an elimination game.
“For all the inner-city kids, you always want the DPL to get a championship, and that hasn’t happened for a while,” said second baseman Brett Nathan, a first-team all-stater and a strong candidate to repeat, with a .507 batting average and eight homers.
The Spartans were sitting pretty last year, too, before losing 10-6 to Niwot and then 10-4 in the championship game against Cherokee Trail.
“I think we were a little nervous because we had never been that far before,” said coach Tory Humphrey, who has the Spartans in the Final Four for the third time in his seven years as coach. “Last year we were too excited just to be there. Now we want to win it.”
Shortstop Tyler Thornton, bound for the Colorado School of Mines this fall, has started every game since his freshman year. He believes the Spartans’ time has come.
“We made it to the Elite Eight when I was a sophomore, but we really weren’t ready for it,” Thornton said. “Last year, being in the driver’s seat, I thought we were ready, but maybe we didn’t know what to expect. But we are really a confident team now.”
The core of TJ’s seniors have played with each other or against each other since the second grade. The bonds they’ve formed, and the pride they share when they pull on their brown-and-gold uniforms, is obvious. All that’s missing is another big trophy.
“It would be the perfect ending to the perfect story,” said outfielder and pitcher Michael Mankoff.
First baseman Matthew Mankoff, Michael’s twin, was an all-state center in football and is headed to Mesa State on a football scholarship. As much as he loves the intensity and contact in football, he cherishes the camaraderie he has found on the diamond and in the dugout.
“We have so much fun, and we want to win this for each other,” Matthew Mankoff said. “We’ve been around each other for so long, I doubt you will find a team that is more hardworking than us, or one that has as much fun.”
As good as the Spartans have been — they’ve gotten this far with solid pitching, aggressive offense and glittering defense — their ability to stay loose and rally has become the team’s trademark. They had to beat Cheyenne Mountain in extra innings to advance in district play, and they’ve trailed in every game of the state tournament.
“I love being the person who has to come up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, the guy who has to come through,” Thornton said. “I think everybody on this team wants to be the person who steps up and wins the game.”
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
