AURORA — Tyler Klouser had a nice week on Tuesday.
In addition to making a terrific play at third base for the third out in which he reached and snared a hard groundball that was past him, then planted for a strong throw across the diamond, the senior ripped three home runs and compiled seven RBIs as Grandview whipped host Cherokee Trail 16-3 to remain in a wild Class 5A Centennial League chase.
If it wasn’t a must-win situation for Grandview, it was close — the Wolves improved to 9-5 overall and 6-3 in league.Cherokee Trail is 11-3 and 6-3.
So, Tyler, how many homers is that for you this season?
“That’s three, there it is,” Klouser said with a laugh. “We just worked on hitting the ball square in practice and came together. We hope this carries over for the rest of the season.”
More than half of the league remains in the hunt, including the Wolves, who are 2-0 during the Centennial’s second half.
“It’s fun, it seems like we know two or three guys from every team,” Klouser said. “The Centennial League’s like the playoffs, so you have to come out with the same intensity every game.”
Said coach Dean Adams: “We kind of put that on (the players) last Saturday. You just go down the league and everybody’s beating everybody.”
And on Tuesday, the Wolves beat up the ball, also getting home runs from Greg Bird and Kevin Gausman.
“Just an old-fashioned butt whipping,” Cherokee Trail coach Allan Dyer said.
Grandview 410 308 — 16 12 1
Cherokee Trail 000 120 — 3 7 1
Grandview — J. Smith 2b 4-1-1-1, Allbritton ss 5-1-2-1, Bird c 2-1-1-1, Ramthun cr 0-2-0-0, A. Smith 2-3-2-3, Klouser 3b 3-3-3-7, Gausman rf 4-2-2-1, McIntyre dh 3-1-1-0, Davis cf 3-1-0-0, Valous 3-1-0-1, Lucero p 0-0-0-0. Totals 29-16-12-15.
Cherokee Trail — Balogh 2b 3-0-0-0, P. Ihme ss 2-0-0-0, Green lf 3-1-3-0, Trine c 3-0-0-0, Gustin cf 3-0-2-1, Norblom 2-0-1-0, Dando 1b 3-0-0-0, Mucha dh 2-1-0-0, M. Ihme ph 1-0-0-0, Maring rf 2-1-1-2, Johnson p 0-0-0-0, Cook p 0-0-0-0, Sutton p 0-0-0-0. Totals 24-3-7-3.
E — Norblom, Lucero. DP — Grandview 2. SF — A. Smith, J. Smith. 2B — Green 2, Gustin, A. Smith. HR — Klouser, two on in first, one on in fourth, one on in sixth; Gausman, solo in first; Bird, solo in fourth; Maring, one on in fifth.
Batteries — Lucero and Bird; Johnson, Cook (3), Sutton (7) and Trine. W — Lucero (3-2). L — Johnson (4-2). HBP — McIntyre (by Johnson); Klouser (by Johnson); Norblom (by Lucero); P. Ihme (by Lucero); Byrd (by Cook). WP — Johnson, Lucero, Sutton. T — 1:44.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
