AURORA — Having been a central figure in Colorado schoolboy baseball since the late 1970s, Regis Jesuit coach Steve Cavnar is well aware of what can happen in the postseason.
Cavnar has taken good teams into the playoffs as well as not-so-good teams and seemingly every one in between.
And there is one bottom line.
“All you can ask for is a chance,” he said.
Cavnar’s Raiders took advantage of one Saturday in winning two games to capture the Class 5A District 6 championship.
Regis Jesuit will get another after first outlasting a game Fruita Monument 3-2, then whipping Liberty 16-2 in five innings to gain one of eight berths into the big-school championship series that will begin Friday.
“I felt like we could make it, but you know how one-loss-and-done baseball is,” Cavnar said. “I’m glad we’re at double-elimination now.”
Thank senior right-hander Alex Goetz and a Raiders lineup that batted around in each of the first three innings.
Bound for Princeton, Goetz got himself into two bouts of trouble before pitching out of both. He allowed only six hits and struck out nine.
“The mistakes I made early, (the Lancers) were hitting them hard, so I had to bear down and focus,” Goetz said.
In moving their record to 15-6, the Raiders pounded out 10 hits — three of them home runs. Logan Knox hit two solo homers, and Goetz hit another in the third.
Thirteen Raiders came to the plate in a nine-run third inning, and every starter but one reached base at least twice.
Liberty, which ended 12-8, surprised in the first-round game by easily handling Fort Collins 7-3. But Liberty came unglued on the mound, where coach Lance Mc-Korkle was forced to use four pitchers by the third inning, five for the game.
The Lancers couldn’t do much against Goetz (9-0), and Luke Lowery threw a five-hitter against Fruita Monument with 14 strikeouts for mound efficiency that will be vital in the final rounds.
“I’m happy for these guys,” Cavnar said. “I really, truly believe they have a shot.”
Liberty 101 00 — 2 6 1
Regis Jesuit 349 0x — 16 10 0
Liberty — Turner cf 3-0-0-0, B. Woodbury 3-0-0-0, Koch 3b 2-2-2-0, Williams ss 3-0-2-1, Bulow 1b 2-0-1-1, Simon rf 1-0-1-0, Rose dh-p 1-0-0-0, M. Woodbury dh-p 1-0-0-0, Bradley lf 2-0-0-0, Aderholt 2b 2-0-0-0, Wynn p 0-0-0-0, McElhinny p 0-0-0-0, Parkin p 0-0-0-0. Totals 20-2-6-2.
Regis Jesuit — Knox 2b 2-2-2-3, Goetz p 1-1-1-1, Chavarria cr-ph 1-3-0-0, Robinson 1b 4-3-2-2, McKay cf 2-2-2-2, Escobedo lf 3-0-0-1, Weiss ss 2-2-1-1, Fisher cr-ph 1-1-0-0, Merten c 1-0-1-2, Cameron dh 2-1-0-1, Griffith 3b 0-0-0-0, Ernst rf 2-1-1-2, Brendel cr 0-0-0-0. Totals 21-16-10-15.
E — Aderholt. LOB — Liberty 5, Regis Jesuit 8. SB — Chavarria, McKay, Weiss. 2B — Williams, Simon. 3B — McKay. HR — Knox, 2, solo in first and solo in second; Goetz, solo in third.
Batteries — Wynn, Rose (1), McElhinny (2), M. Woodbury (3); Oarkin (4) and B. Woodbury; Goetz and Merten. W — Goetz (9-0). L — Wynn. WP — Goetz, Parkin. HBP — Escobedo (by Wynn); Simon (by Goetz); McKay (by M. Woodbury). Balk — M. Woodbury. Time — 1:52.
REGIS JESUIT 3, FRUITA MONUMENT 2
Fruita Monument 001 000 1 — 2 5 2
Regis Jesuit 030 000 x — 3 5 3
Rahman and Barger; Lowery and Merten. W — Lowery, 14 K’s. L — Rahman. HR — Rahman, solo in seventh. Highlights — Weiss, RJ, triple.
LIBERTY 7, FORT COLLINS 3
Liberty 313 000 0 — 7 10 4
Fort Collins 102 000 0 — 3 5 0
Bulow and B. Woodbry; Brunner, Poehlman and Sakala. W — Bulow. L — Brunner. HR — Bulow, L, one on in third; Simon, L, solo in third.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
