The Dolores County High School varsity baseball team showed just how strong they will be this season with an easy 26-3 victory over visiting Debeque on Saturday afternoon, March 11, at Weber Park Field in Dove Creek.

"I thought we did okay for the first game of the season although we really did not have much competition," DCHS head coach Ken Soper reported. "I was hoping for a better game."

The Bulldogs did not allow Debeque to get a hit. Five pitchers each threw one hitless inning each. Reliever Justin Wyatt was awarded the win. They recorded nine strike outs of the 15 total outs.

Offensively, that’s where the Bulldogs shined. Chris Kail led the way going three-for-three while cracking a single, a double, and a triple and knocked in five runs. Ron Ernst went two-for-five including a double and a triple for two RBI. Keith Pierce went two-for-two. Dallas Daves and Dallas Coker went two-for-four, both collecting four RBI each. Wyatt, Terence Gardner and Jade Husky also hit the ball well. DCHS finished with a total of 17 hits. They hit .512 as team during the game which saw many junior varsity players get in on the hit parade as well.

Dove Creek sent 22 batters to the plate, knocking 11 hits and scoring 18 runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Bulldogs added a run in the second, four in the third and three in the fourth and did not bat in the fifth. Debeque scored all of its runs in the top of the fifth.

Defensively, the Bulldogs did not commit an error which pleased Soper considering this was the first game of the season and the team has not spent much time on the field. Also many of the starting unit had only just shed their gym shoes and donned cleats at the start of last week.