Denver’s been treated to an early spring this year and the warm weather has been a great accelerant for widespread baseball fever. There is more hope than usual for the Rockies, who have their best team in years and are poised to make a playoff run.
Beyond Coors Field, baseball is back, too. It was 68 degrees and sunny for Thursday’s high school Opening Day across the state, and once again everyone was 0-0 and armed with optimism.
There’s quite a bit of baseball talent around the state. Over 130 seniors are currently signed to play college baseball and 26 of those players are headed to Division I schools. And in the largest classifications, there are several teams that are capable of state championship runs.
But as with the Rockies — who have a talented everyday lineup — success for local high school programs comes down to pitching. To win state, Colorado teams must have at least a couple aces up their sleeves.
In Class 5A, the aces are aplenty, with the advantage going to teams with more than one shutdown arm — a versatility that’s key when playing multiple elimination games on one day during the district and state tournaments.
Among the many top flights pitchers are Heritage senior Jacob Hilton and junior Riley Egloff, Legend juniors Jack Baird and Brody McCord and senior Kyle Cardona, Mullen seniors Rocco Porreco and Joey Salvato, juniors Justin Olson and Jay Onken, Broomfield seniors James Notary and Blake Rohm, and seniors Tyler Lederhos and Connor Nantkes (upon his return from injury). All give their teams distinct postseason advantages.
And though they must bear a greater burden of the team success, individual aces such as senior Sam Colehower, Regis jesuit senior Caleb Sloan, Fairview senior Skyler Limber, senior Carter Akerfelds, senior Drake Davis and senior Matt Givin all give their teams a championship chance come May.
In Class 4A, junior Luke Ziegler puts on the inside track to a repeat, while other aces such as senior RJ Dabovich, Silver Creek junior Cole Winn, senior Jace Suarez, Erie senior Ruben Portillo, Evergreen junior Ben Muscatello and Windsor senior Corte Tapia figure to make the Eagles’ road back to the title challenging.
It was Nantkes (along with two other graduated pitchers) who was a crucial ace in Cherokee Trail’s first 5A title last season, while the combo of Ziegler and Heller led Valor Christian to its first 4A championship.
Of course fans want to see the kids hit, because those metal bats — even in their diluted BBCOR state — sure can make the ball fly. But beyond the allure of offense, it’s the arms race that will again decide how far the best teams go.
