WESTMINSTER — After delivering a key pinch-hit home run Saturday, junior Stephen Heyliger found his name on the lineup card Tuesday for his first varsity start.
Then he jacked two more.
“Those were his third and fourth homers of the season and he’s had less than 10 at-bats,” Mustangs skipper Jeremy Lustik said. “That’s just bad coaching.”
Few will fault Lustik for not getting Heyliger in sooner — particularly after the Mustangs’ against in a key Class 5A Front Range League game — because the Mustangs have won seven of their last eight and improved to 4-0 in league.
“Jeremy’s done a good job with them,” Boulder coach Steve Disbrow said. “They’ve come a long way in a short time.”
The same could be said of Heyliger, who blasted a solo homer to center to put the Mustangs (8-5 overall) up 2-1 in the second and hit another the third, this one to put Mountain Range in command 5-1.
“Both of them went out on fastballs after he threw me a curve the pitch before,” Heyliger said. “The first one I thought had a good chance to go, but the second one I wasn’t sure about.”
The Heyliger-built cushion was plenty for Mustangs starter Kaden Koch limited the Panthers to only four hits. Two were solo homers — Sean Sredojevic in the first and John Crook in the sixth — but Koch avoided the big inning.
Koch and Boulder pitcher Blake Partridge worked quickly and efficiently, allowing the game to cruise by in an ultra-brisk 1 hour, 24 minutes.
“If we complete a double-play, (Heyliger) doesn’t come up in the (third) inning,” Disbrow said. “Regardless, we don’t feel like five runs should beat us.”
While Boulder (8-4, 3-1) absorbed its first league loss, Mountain Range is aiming to show it can keep pace in a league that includes three-time defending-champion Rocky Mountain and several quality squads.
“It was a ‘program’ win for us,” said Lustik, whose team is its fourth season, second in 5A. “That’s a great team and we took a big step forward today.”
Boulder 100 001 0 — 2 4 0
Mtn. Range 113 000 x — 5 9 1
Boulder — Bremner 2b 4-0-0-0, Sredojevic ss 3-1-2-1, Crook c 3-1-1-1, Partridge p 2-0-1-0, Anagnost dh 2-0-0-0, Noolas 1b 0-0-0-0, Guegan rf 3-0-0-0, Henry 3b 3-0-0-0, Medina lf 2-0-0-0, Rothweiler lf 0-0-0-0, Feigal ph 1-0-0-0, Platt cf 3-0-0-0. Totals 26-2-4-2.
Mountain Range — Donato ss 4-0-1-0, Cyrus cf 2-1-0-0, Tibbits c 3-0-1-0, Munson 1b 3-1-1-1, Jumper lf 3-1-1-0, Heyliger dh 2-2-2-4, Marsh 3b 3-0-2-0, Malgieri 2b 2-0-1-0, Ramsey rf 3-0-0-0. Totals 25-5-9-5.
E — Malgieri. LOB — Boulder 5, Mountain Range 5. 2B — Sredojevic, Partridge. HR — Sredojevic (solo in second), Crook (solo in sixth), Heyliger 2 (solo in second; two on in third). SB — Henry. CS — Heyliger. SAC — Malgieri.
Batteries — Partridge and Crook; Koch and Tibbits. W — Koch (2-3). L — Partridge (2-1). T — 1:24.
