Cortez, Dove Creek, Dolores all lose baseball games

Cortez, Dove Creek, Dolores all lose baseball games

April 12, 2001

STAFF REPORT

Light snow, hail, and wind didn’t stop prep baseball from being played Tuesday, April 10, in Southwestern Colorado.

Montezuma-Cortez fell 12-7 in nine innings to Farmington’s Piedra Vista at Englehart Field. Dolores County lost 10-0 in six innings at Nucla in San Juan Basin League play. Dolores lost a lackluster 7-3 game at Durango JVs.

The Panthers led 7-6 going into the last inning but PVHS came back and tied it up. The game was tied 7-7 at the end of seven complete regulation innings. It was tied 9-9 at the end of the eighth but PVHS scored five times in the top of the ninth to pull away to the win.

"The kids played well," first-year head coach Chuck Cotter said. "We had two outs in the eighth with (Tony) McComb at second and (Josh) Knapp hits a shot in centerfield and their kid makes a heck of a catch which stops the rally. If it had gone over his head, we would have won the game."

Matt Betts started on the mound and worked four innings. Patrick Reed replaced him for three. McComb pitched three and Preston Cornett threw for an out. McComb was tagged with the loss.

"They were hitting our pitchers in spots where our defense couldn’t get to the ball. They all threw the ball well," he added.

Betts helped his own cause out by rapping a triple.

Cortez, 2-7 overall and 0-3 in SWL, returns to Southwestern League action by hosting Grand Junction High at 3:30 p.m. Friday, April 13, and then host Fruita-Monument at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 14, at Englehart Field.

Dolores County couldn’t put together any kind offense at Nucla. The Bulldogs were limited to just two hits by Keith Pierce and Dallas Daves. The Mustangs didn’t get all that many hits (six and only two of those were for extra bases) but they capitalized on cashing in on five of eight walks. Brian Hebert did go two-for-four with four runs batted in including a three-run homer in the fifth. Jason Mock ripped a double.

It was a 1-0 game (Nucla ahead) through three innings. The Mustangs broke the game open with four in the fourth, three in the fifth, and two in the sixth.

"He (Mock) is a good pitcher," DCHS head coach Ken Soper said. "But we’ve faced just as fast or faster ones. He kept the ball down. When we made contact, we hit the ball right to them.

"What really hurt was them scoring five of the eight walks. We have been walking a lot of batters this year. Sometimes it hasn’t hurt but this time it did. We also made four errors and one of those, a dropped pop fly to the outfield, cost us three runs as they had the bases loaded."

Mock went the distance on the mound in picking up the win. He fanned six and did not allow a run. Daves and Dallas Coker shared duties on the hill with Daves getting the loss.

The Bulldogs, 10-3 overall, will host San Juan High (Blanding, Utah) at 11 a.m. Saturday at Weber Park Field in Dove Creek.

The young Demons scored once in the first and then rallied for five runs in the bottom of the second and added one more in the fourth for the non conference win over Dolores.

"We couldn’t hit the ball," DHS head coach Jim Everin reported. "You can’t do much at the plate when you worry about being cold and you worry that it will hurt your hands if you should make contact with the ball."

Dolores, usually a very good hitting team, was limited to only three hits.

"They got that big inning on us. We just posed like we were baseball players. Basically, we didn’t show up. It was a very lackadaisical performance on our part," he added.

The Bears scored twice in the second and once in the fourth. Creed Williford slugged a two-run homer in the second for DHS. Durango picked up solo homers in the first and fourth innings.

Williford went the distance and picked up the loss. He pitched well enough to win, according to Everin, but he didn’t get any help at the plate.

Dolores, which won five of its first seven games, now is riding a three-game losing streak and stands at 5-5. They return to San Juan Basin League action on Saturday, April 14, when they host league-leading Nucla at 11 a.m. at Gonzales Field at Joe Rowell Park.