LAKEWOOD — Bear Creek’s Ryan Reno didn’t discover he had his best stuff Tuesday until the second inning.
But first inning, second inning, third . . . it didn’t matter. The senior lefthander threw a two-hit shutout at ordinarily good-hitting Pomona in the Bears’ 7-0 victory in the Class 5A Jefferson County League at Keli McGregor Field at All-Star Park.
The Bears moved to 10-4 overall, 4-0 league, as Reno (3-0) was in command on another cold, gray afternoon. He mixed his fastball and breaking pitches with precision — the Panthers (7-7, 2-1) didn’t get a hit until the fifth. He struck out six and was never in trouble.
“I kept the ball low and had great defense behind me,” Reno said. “Pomona’s a good-hitting team.”
But not on Tuesday, as Bears coach Brad Kidwell once again enjoyed a pleasant view from the dugout.
“It has been fun,” he said of Bear Creek’s resurgence. “You know what? We’ve had good pitching this year. (Reno) had a sore arm earlier, but he has come back and pitched fantastic games.”
The Bears struck immediately as six of their first seven hitters reached base. Chad Baumer delivered a two-run single as Bear Creek took a 2-0 lead. The Bears had 10 hits — two each by Nathan Burns and Jacob Harris — and plated single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
Pomona, which owns a victory against four-time defending 5A champion Rocky Mountain, never got anything going.
“We had been scoring a lot of runs recently, but (Reno) shut us down real good,” Panthers coach E.J. Mapps said. “They scored early, and that helped them.”
Bear Creek 401 110 0 — 7 10 2
Pomona 000 000 0 — 0 2 3
Bear Creek — Reno p 3-0-1-0, D. Patton cr 0-2-0-0, Burns 2-1-2-1, Morris 3b 2-1-1-0, Dilts dh 4-0-1-1, Baumer 1b 4-1-1-2, Fleck rf 4-0-1-1, Fouts lf 4-1-0-0, Harris c 4-0-2-1, Butts cr 0-1-0-0, C. Patton ss 3-0-1-0, Rayburn 2b 0-0-0-0. Totals 30-7-10-6.
Pomona — Perez cf 2-0-0-0, DeHererra 3b 3-0-0-0, Olinger p-lf 3-0-1-0, Conley c 3-0-0-0, Taylor 1b 2-0-0-0, Smith rf 2-0-0-0, Thistle ph 1-0-0-0, Safranka 2b 3-0-1-0, Pratt lf 1-0-0-0, Schlehuber p 1-0-0-0, Martinelli ss 2-0-0-0, Bower p 0-0-0-0, Leaf 1-0-0-0. Totals 24-0-2-0.
E — Martinelli 2, Morris, Safranka, C. Patton. SAC — Burns. CS — Fouts. . DP — Bear Creek. LOB — Bear Creek 9, Pomona 4. 2B — Burns, Harris, Dilts, C. Patton.
Batteries — Reno and Harris; Olinger, Schlehuer (4), Bower (6) and Conley. W — Reno (3-0). L — Olinger. SF — Burns. HBP — Morris (by Olinger). T — 1:54.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
