FORT COLLINS — Many of them played together or faced one another on the diamond before Little League.
Yes, they thought about playing high school baseball when their parents took them to games, but that was as far as it went. Young kids have other priorities.
“We probably were thinking about having a Popsicle that night,” Rocky Mountain High School’s Jake Stewart said.
A popular choice as Colorado’s top prospect for next month’s amateur draft, Stewart never dreamed he and his friends from Fort Collins’ youth teams would join forces years later to form a big-school baseball dynasty.
Entering the grand finale of a weekend for the 2008-09 scholastic sports year, Class 5A Rocky Mountain (20-4) will meet Rampart of Colorado Springs (22-2) at All-City Field on Friday afternoon in its quest to cement a legacy. The Lobos have won the past two 5A titles and stand very near to a third, which would put them in consideration for the best ever to suit up in Colorado.
Since sanctioning began in 1950, only four other big-school baseball programs have won consecutive championships, topped by Cherry Creek, which holds the record with five in a row (1995-99). Thirty-seven-year Cherry Creek coach Marc Johnson heads one of three teams that may get a shot at the Lobos by Saturday in the double-elimination format.
He minces no words about the Lobos’ prowess, or potential place in state history. Keep in mind his Bruins slapped the Lobos, 10-3, in a tuneup before districts.
“In my mind, they would be right up there, certainly as good as ours,” Johnson said. “They have a terrific club.”
The Lobos have come a long way from playing for kids teams such as the Bombers, Lugnuts and Sandlots, but are every bit as dominant now as back then. The Lobos are 63-13 in the past three years. Their most impressive statistic, however, might be what they’ve done off the field. This year’s team owns an average grade-point average of 3.6.
“It tells you a lot about the kids I’m dealing with,” coach Scott Bullock said.
Overall threats
As far as they’re concerned, the Lobos believe their character and smarts have accounted for as many victories as has talent, with underclassmen contributing heavily to support a stellar, six-boy senior class.
Junior Marco Gonzales, who has already committed to Gonzaga, was the winning pitcher in championship games the past two years and is expected to try for a third time Saturday. He plays outfield when not pitching and has blasted six home runs from the cleanup spot. He said Bullock emphasizes far more than how to play baseball.
“Teaching us how to be better people outside the lines definitely helps inside the lines, too,” he said.
Stewart, a senior headed to Stanford, is laying claim as one of the greats in state history.
“Maybe one of our top three outfielders ever,” Johnson said.
At 6-feet-2, 195 pounds, Stewart has the speed to make him a force on defense from his spot in center field, as well as on the basepaths. An All-Colorado player, as named by The Post last year, he is the state’s most feared hitter, with 11 home runs, 51 RBIs and 21 extra-base hits.
“We’ve showed we can play up here,” Stewart said modestly.
Third baseman Bryan Peters, another senior, knocked in the decisive run in the 2007 championship game, has yet to lose as a pitcher (21-0) in his career and has ripped eight home runs from the No. 2 spot in the order. The Denver Post Gold Helmet winner as a quarterback last fall, he’s headed to Nebraska to play baseball. He made friends with Stewart years ago, and they become elite three-sport athletes, an increasing rarity at the Class 5A level in Colorado, where most top prep athletes now specialize.
“There’s a little competitiveness between them, not that they would admit it,” Bullock said. “But when one does well, he wants the other to do well.”
Depth from juniors
Juniors Zac Chuvala, J.R. Lopez, Chris Roglen, Pierce Trumper, who has already committed to Arkansas, and Luke White head a long list of key contributors on a team in which there seems to be a new hero each game.
It hasn’t been as easy as it sounds, though. Injuries, notably an arm problem that kept Trumper from his regular pitching turn, have hurt. In March, a trip to Arizona ended up helping the team become closer.
“You go down there and there’s 100 scouts at every game,” Stewart said. “It’s easy to get wrapped up in playing for yourself, maybe jacking up your stats. Then, we came back, (lost to) ThunderRidge, and it humbled us right there.”
Said Peters: “It was about accepting the new group (of underclassmen). Everyone finally opened up to each other, pulled for everyone else, and now we’re on a roll.”
As for a final entry in the record book, Peters, in recalling three consecutive state youth titles, wants a repeat.
“It’s crazy that we’re near the end, but it would be fitting, the best possible way,” he said.
