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April 19, 2001
BY JIM THOMAS For a while it was a good game on Tuesday afternoon, April 17, between Dolores and Dolores County at Gonzales Field at Joe Rowell Park. In the fourth inning, though, Dolores County exploded for seven runs and coasted to a 21-8 Class 2A San Juan Basin League vasity baseball win. Until that point, though, it was an interesting game. Dolores County got on the scoreboard first when Chris Kail took a fast ball from starting pitcher Kevin Fane over the fence. But Dolores came right back with two runs in the bottom of the first by capitalizing on a walk, an error and a two-run single by Aeson Reed. The Bulldogs went down quitely in the second. In the bottom of that frame, Dolores scored three times to take a 5-1 lead. With two outs and two on, Cullen Zion took starting pitcher Dallas Daves deep over the center field fence. That chased Daves off the hill and Dallas Coker came on in relief. In the top of the third, DCHS pushed two runs over when Coker singled and then Keith Pierce slugged a homer. Dolores got a run back in the bottom of the inning to lead 6-3 when Reed doubled, went to third on an error, and then scored on a fielder’s choice. A mental mistake here, a few physical errors there and a whole bunch of hits opened the flood gates for Dove Creek in the top of the fourth. A big blast came when Pierce slugged his second home run of the day. Brandon Neely had an RBI single and Joe Buffington knocked in a pair of runs with a single. By the time dust had cleared, Dolores County led 10-6. Fane was taken off the mound in favor of Zion who mopped up. Dolores made a game of it again by scoring twice in the bottom of the inning. After Fane reached base on an error, Brady Blackmer belted a homer into the river over the left field fence which made it 10-8. The Bulldogs scored four times in the fifth, two in the sixth, and five in the seventh. Dolores did not score again although they threatened by having two runners on in the sixth. Daves and Neely had RBI singles in the fifth, Terence Gardner knocked in a run with a single in the sixth, Pierce knocked in two runs with a double and Gardner scored a run with an RBI single. For the game, Dove Creek scored 21 runs on 21 hits but committed four errors and stranded 12 on the bases. Dolores scored eight runs on eight hits but made seven errors and left five on. Coker got credited with the win while Fane took the loss. In a San Juan Basin League game played on Saturday, April 14, Nucla stopped Dolores 11-3 at Gonzales Field at Joe Rowell Park. The Bears took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first but the Mustangs responded with an 11-run barrage in the top of the second. The Bears picked up one more run in the third. Fane, who did not get much help in the field or at the plate, started and was tagged with the loss. Zion pitched in relief and shut the Mustangs down the rest of the way. Justin Mock went the distance in picking up the win. Colter Dunagan knocked in two runs in the first with a double. Nick Martin rapped a double and Aeson Reed went two-for-three for Dolores. Chris Been cracked a pair of singles and Josh Hainey hit a triple for Nucla. In a non-conference game played over the weekend, San Juan County High defeated Dolores County 14-6 this past Saturday. The game was originally scheduled to be played at Weber Park Field but it was wet and the game was moved to Blanding, Utah. The Bulldogs exploded for three runs in the top of the first inning, highlighted by a two-run home run by Keith Pierce, but the Broncos came right back with four in the bottom of the frame. San Juan added a run in the bottom of the second and DCHS came up with a run in the top of third. Both teams added one run each in the fourth. "It was a good game up until that point," DCHS head coach Ken Soper reported. The Broncos pushed five runs across the plate in the bottom of the fifth and added three more in the sixth to break the game open. Dove Creek came up with only one more run on the day and that came in the sixth. No. 8 batter Scott Spotted Elk had a good game for San Juan High by going four-for-four, including slugging a dinger and cracking a double and a triple. The Broncos collected 16 hits for the game. For Dove Creek, Terence Gardner went three-for-four with two runs batted in and Dallas Daves went two-for-four. "They (San Juan High) had some good hitters. They hit the ball all day with men on. But I was impressed with the bottom of their order. The last three guys really hit well. The clean-up batter didn’t even get a hit," Soper added. The schedule makers have the Panthers playing Fruita-Monument this Friday, April 20, at 3:30 p.m. and Grand Junction High this Saturday, April 21, at 10:30 a.m. at Lincoln Park. The two teams just got done playing in Cortez at Englehart Field last weekend, April 13-14. The Panthers lost a heartbreaker 7-6 to the Tigers and then fell 17-7 in five innings to Fruita. "Last weekend we were playing to compete, but this weekend we’re playing to win," first-year MCHS head coach Chuck Cotter said. "I like the idea of coming right back and playing them again. We get another opportunity to play them. We have been working hard on coverages and situations in practice. The practices have been good and we’ll be ready." The Tigers jumped out to a 5-1 lead after three innings. Cortez caught fire and made a game of it. "We had several opportunities to tie it up but we didn’t get the job done," he added. Josh Knapp had a good day at the plate. He slapped a single, a double, and a triple, almost hitting for the cycle (.750 for the game) and knocked in two runs. Richard Yake cracked a double and a triple for two runs batted in. MCHS left seven runners on the bases. Patrick Reed and Preston Cornett threw against GJHS with Reed being tagged with the loss. Against Fruita, the Panthers had several guys on bases. They had the bases loaded early in the game but left them stranded. They left seven on for the game. "In the first inning we had a runner get caught in a run down. We made several base running mistakes in that game. We had seven scoring opportunities in the first two innings. We’re not getting the hits with men on and that’s bitting us right now," he said. The Panthers have stranded a whopping 66 runners. Another downfall has been this season is giving up the big inning. The Wildcats scored eight runs in the fourth en route to their win. The Panthers hit the ball well against the Wildcat pitching. Knapp collected a single and a double while Yake slapped a double and Kevin Wayman and Tony McComb had two singles each against Fruita. McComb started against Fruita and was relieved by Matt Betts and Wayman. McComb, who had his worst outing so far this season, took the loss. MCHS is on the verge of having a good team. Several of their losses have been by one or two runs. So far for the season, Knapp is the team’s leading hitter with a very healthy .514 batting average. Wayman has a .421, Betts .353, McComb .351, and Yake .313. Reed has the lowest earned run average of 5.25 but he’s 0-3 on the season. McComb has an ERA of 5.88. McComb leads the pitching staff with 16 strike outs while Wayman has 13. A sore point is that there have been no saves. The Panthers, 2-9 overall visit Fruita and Grand Junction this weekend as mentioned above. Dolores (5-7 overall), which has not won since the Spring Break, will try take a break from league play to host Cortez JVs, a team they have beaten twice so far this season, at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 21, at Gonzales Field. Dolores County, 11-4 overall, will play a twin bill beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday at Weber Park Field in Dove Creek. |
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez Journal.
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