Nearly everyone in the small town of Peyton has told Todd Brazell he is a heck of a ballplayer, and recently, even some outside the borders of the agricultural community have taken notice of his prowess on the mound.
Before Sunday, however, Brazell never had the opportunity to showcase his abilities on a larger stage. Once he had the chance — in the form of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to step onto Coors Field moments after the Rockies finished up a three-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays — Brazell didn’t disappoint.
Brazell was one of the central figures in the Purple’s 1-0 win against the Silver in a rare Colorado Rockies Senior Top 50 Game pitching duel, scoring the contest’s only run while pitching a dominating inning in relief.
“He’s kind of a surprising little guy,” said Ralston Valley’s Matt Jones, who played for the Silver. “It looked like he had some jump on his fastball.”
Brazell, a left-hander who regularly faces Class 3A competition, struck out all three batters he faced in the sixth inning — and they all were 5A batters.
“That’s what I wanted — a chance to prove myself,” said Brazell, who will play at Garden City (Kan.) Community College. “That’s why it was good to come here and see good guys. I was nervous at first, but once I got up there I was ready.”
Brazell also made the most of his two plate appearances. He walked in the second inning, stole second base then scored on a single by Mountain View’s Nick Miller. Brazell added a single in the sixth, one of only three hits for the Purple.
On a day dominated by pitchers — all eight hits were singles, and 26 of the 39 outs were strikeouts — Miller added a fitting end to his high school career. His RBI allowed the Purple to win by the same 1-0 score his Mountain Lions squad won the 4A state title two weeks earlier against Broomfield. In addition, Mountain View teammate Derek Neeper earned the win by throwing the first two innings.
“I was surprised no one could touch these guys, but it just shows how good the pitching was here,” Miller said.
The win capped off a wild weekend for Miller, who also played in the all-state football game Saturday night in Greeley.
“It’s been the funnest week of my life,” Miller said. “I thought ending with the state championship was nice, but this is more icing on the cake.”
ThunderRidge’s Mitch Horacek pitched a scoreless seventh to earn the save.
Silver 000 000 0 — 0 5 0
Purple 010 000 x — 1 3 0
Silver (ab-r-h-rbi) — Jones 2-0-0-0, Forrest 2-0-0-0, Wollenzin 2-0-1-0, Roglen 2-0-1-0, Reynolds 2-0-0-0, Schicktanz 2-0-1-0, Ehlers 2-0-0-0, Huggins 2-0-0-0, Hutmacher 2-0-0-0, Shoutta 2-0-0-0, Looney 1-0-1-0, Kissner 1-0-1-0, Skrdland 1-0-0-0, Toscano 1-0-0-0, Krietemeier 1-0-0-0, Wiese 1-0-0-0. Totals 26-0-5-0.
Purple — Neeper 1-0-0-0, Brown 2-0-0-0, Horacek 1-0-0-0, Goetz 1-0-0-0, Brazell 1-1-1-0, Matz 2-0-0-0, Sullivan 1-0-0-0, Miller 1-0-1-1, Alves 1-0-0-0, Lashlee 1-0-0-0, Schoon 1-0-0-0, Carbajal 0-0-0-0, Pape 1-0-0-0, Krueger 1-0-0-0, Opitz 1-0-0-0, Kraii 1-0-0-0, Hoyt 1-0-1-0, Guymon 1-0-0-0, Holter 1-0-0-0, Tharp 1-0-0-0. Totals 21-1-3-1.
E — None. LOB — Silver 5, Purple 5. SB — Brazell.
Batteries — Nava, Krietemeier (2), Henry (3), Mordini (4), Wiese (5), Strufing (6) and Matz, Sullivan (6); Neeper, Brown (3), Horacek (4), Goetz (5), Brazell (6), Horacek (7) and Wollenzin, Looney (6). W — Neeper. L — Krietemeier. Save — Horacek. T — 1:40.
