PARKER — Never mind the ridiculous wind that came up all of a sudden — and stayed — Wednesday afternoon. Andrew Liffrig met a fastball he liked and sent it out of the yard.
The senior designated hitter crushed a grand slam in the fourth inning to break open a game in which he and his Highlands Ranch Falcons had been trailing. That highlighted an eight-run outburst as they were able to outlast host Ponderosa 12-11 in a Continental League game.
The Falcons, who had dropped their previous two league games, improved to 9-3 overall, 2-2 in the Continental.
“Our boys can swing it, and when they see somebody they like, they swing it,” first-year coach Joseph Gleason said.
Liffrig, who bats sixth in the order, drilled one to left into a stiff wind for his first homer of the season and helped erase what had been a 6-4 deficit entering the inning.
“I was up there with the bases loaded and ran into a fastball I liked,” he said in shrugging off his feat. “So it was a good day at the yard for everybody.”
Highlands Ranch won despite managing only seven hits, all in the first four innings. It also took advantage of four Mustangs errors and faced three pitchers. Nick Shumpert and Morgan McIntosh added two hits for the Falcons.
Ponderosa (9-5, 3-2), stayed in the game but couldn’t overcome the fourth, when its pitching permitted 10 straight Falcons to reach. The Mustangs stranded 10 baserunners.
Said Gleason: “We just want to get back to the dance, get back to the playoffs.”
Highlands Ranch 103 800 0 — 12 7 3
Ponderosa 321 300 2 — 11 11 4
Highlands Ranch — Shumpert ss 4-1-2-0, Dammel 2b 4-2-0-0, Bonnell lf 3-2-1-1, Mallon 1b 2-2-1-0, Helbling c 2-0-0-2, Miller cr 0-1-0-0, Liffring dh 3-2-1-4, Medina rf 2-0-0-0, LaPlante rf 1-1-0-0, McIntosh 3b 3-1-2-2, Forlenza cf 4-0-0-0, Motz p 0-0-0-0, Blackwood p 0-0-0-0, Madrid p 0-0-0-0. Totals 28-12-7-7.
Ponderosa — Halloran cf 5-1-3-1, Feldhaus lf 2-2-0-0, Whalen ph 2-1-1-2, Jeanjaquet p 1-0-0-1, Narro p 0-0-0-0, Hammond cr 0-1-0-0, King p 2-0-0-0, Ghidotti 2b 4-2-2-1, Leland c 3-0-1-1, Green cr 0-1-0-0, Kagan ss 5-1-1-0, Eischen 1b 2-1-0-1, Grounds rf 4-1-2-1, Kruse 3b 3-0-1-0. Totals 33-11-11-8.
E — Kagan 3, McIntosh, Dammel, Ghidotti, Bonnell, DP — Ponderosa 2, Highlands Ranch. LOB — Highlands Ranch 6, Ponderosa 10 2B — McIntosh, Eischen, Halloran 2, Bonnell, Kagan 3B — Shumpert. HR — Liffrig, grand slam in fourth; Whalen, one on in seventh. SF — Jeanjaquet.
Batteries — Motz, Blackwood (4), Madrid (5) and Helbling; Jeanjaquet, Narro (4), King (4) and Leland. W — Motz. L — Narro. T — 2:31.
Neil H. Devlin: ndevlin@denverpost.com or
