HIGHLANDS RANCH — When Aaron Cook homered on the first pitch Friday, the omens were abundant.
For Heritage, it was a precursor to the Eagles’ finest hitting — or should we say, bashing — day of the season. For Highlands Ranch, it was a harbinger of the onslaught to come.
Heritage never stopped hitting — and doing so loudly — in a 20-3 pasting of the host Falcons in a key Class 5A Continental League game.
“We were prepared to see Ryan Burr today, and they decided to save him for Monday,” Heritage coach Scott Hormann said of the Highlands Ranch ace. “I told our kids that it was a little disrespectful to us, that we weren’t good enough to see him. So they came out and decided to swing it up.”
None more so than first baseman Ryan McGuire, who drove in a career-best nine runs, which included two of the Eagles’ four home runs. After doubling off the third-base bag to score two in the second, McGuire stepped to the plate after a pitching change in the third and ripped Hunter Brown’s first offering for a grand slam.
“I’ve been in that situation a lot in my life where a kid comes in and throws a first-pitch fastball,” said McGuire, who added a three-run bomb in the fourth. “When a new kid comes in there, he’s probably not going to try to fool you.”
Heritage (11-4, 4-3) broke it open with nine runs in the second. The Eagles went 10-for-11 in the inning, and it would have been worse if not for two outs on the basepaths.
“Not much to say, because they whipped us,” said Highlands Ranch coach John Cackowski, whose Falcons fell to 12-4, 4-3. “It’s always a character test to see how you come back from a loss like that. But it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and this is still part of the marathon.”
Sam Bretz also homered for Heritage, which had seven players post a multihit performance.
Heritage 294 50 — 20 18 0
Highlands Ranch 200 01 — 3 7 1
Heritage (ab-r-h-rbi) — Cook 2b 2-4-2-1, Bartusiak ph 1-0-0-0, Keller cf 2-4-2-1, Bruno ph-cf 1-0-1-0, Powers ss 2-3-1-3, Young ph 1-0-0-0, McGuire 1b-p 4-3-3-9, Calhoun c 4-0-0-0, Kitchen dh 2-1-2-0, Hansen ph-1b 0-0-0-0, Bretz lf 3-2-2-3, Chase lf 1-0-0-0, Schulthies 3b 3-1-2-0, Scheffel ph 1-0-0-0, Rohleder rf 3-1-3-1, Debban pr-rf 0-1-0-0. Totals 30-20-18-18.
Highlands Ranch — Martinez 3b-p-3b 2-1-2-0, Audino ss 2-1-0-0, Gauthier c 2-1-2-1, Vincent 1b 2-0-0-0, Brown cf-p-cf 3-0-2-2, Cerullo dh-3b 1-0-0-0, Larsen cf 1-0-0-0, Smith p 1-0-0-0, McFadden rf 2-0-0-0, Butler 2b 1-0-0-0, Mann 2b 1-0-0-0. Totals 18-3-7-3.
E — Gauthier. DP — Heritage 2, Highlands Ranch 1. LOB — Heritage 4, Highlands Ranch 6. 2B — Martinez, Gauthier, Mann, Powers, McGuire, Schulthies, Rohleder, Bruno. HR — Cook (solo in first), Bretz (two on in third), McGuire 2 (grand slam in in third; two on in fourth). SB — Keller.
Batteries — Roley, McGuire (5) and Calhoun; Anttila, Martinez (2), Brown (3), Smith (4) and Gauthier. W — Roley (5-1). L — Anttila. HBP — Cook (by Brown), Powers (by Brown), Debban (by Smith). T — 1:58.
