DC to play Grand Valley in 2A divisional tourney

DC to play Grand Valley in 2A divisional tourney

April 26, 2001

Putting the tag on

DOLORES COUNTY PITCHER DALLAS DAVES tries to put the glove on a Monticello, Utah, runner during a play at home plate on Tuesday afternoon at Parque de Vida. The Monticello runner slide safely as the tag was too late. However, DCHS won the nonconference game 11-9. The Bulldogs will host Grand Valley at noon Saturday at Parque de Vida in a 2A Divisional Baseball Tournament game.

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

Grand Valley, Nucla, DeBeque, and Dolores County will compete here beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 28, in the Class 2A Divisional (Division I) Baseball Tournament at Parque de Vida.

DeBeque will tangle with San Juan Basin League champion Nucla at 10 a.m. and SJBL runnerup Dolores County and Grand Valley will meet at noon. The winner of those games will play at 2 p.m. for seeding purposes into the District Tournament May 5 in Gunnison. The losers, meanwhile, will call it a season. The winners at Districts will advance to Colorado Springs for Regionals, State semifinals and finals, May 10-12.

"I know they are very good," Dolores County head coach Ken Soper commented. "We will certainly have to play better than we did against Monticello (Utah) today (Tuesday, April 24). They are a ligitimate no. 1 team. They have clobbered most everyone they’ve meet. They beat DeBeque twice quite easily. We have faced Grand Valley a few times before and they always have a good team.

"I never really know what team is going to show up. If the one that played today shows up, then we will not be playing any more. If the other one shows, then we’ve got a good chance to win. We can play much better than we have played at times this season. What has killed us has been errors, both mental and physical. When we make a mental or phyiscal error, that just tells me they simply are not concentrating enough on what needs to be done. There is no excuse. But we’ve been hitting the ball well and doing other things fairly well."

Soper said he will go with Dallas Coker, who started on Tuesday but was chased in the first inning, on the mound. Terence Gardner will be behind the plate. Brandon Neely will likely play at first base, Dallas Daves at second, Chris Kail at shortstop, and Joe Buffington at third. The outfield will be composed of Casey Spitzer in right, Keith Pierce in center, and Trent Daves or Matt Beanland in left.

The Bulldogs outlasted Monticello Tuesday afternoon 11-9 at Parque de Vida. The game was originally scheduled for Weber Park in Dove Creek but snow on Sunday forced the game to be moved.

During the early goings of the game, it looked like the Bulldogs were going to be blown out in five innings. The Buckaroos sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six runs, all unearned thanks to three DCHS errors, on four hits in the top of the first inning. Quinn Dowell rapped a two-run triple during the inning and chased starting pitcher Coker from the mound. Dolores County responded with unearned four runs in the bottom of the stanza. The big hit was a two-run double by Brandon Neely.

Monticello threatened in the second with two runners on but it could not get them home. The Bulldogs scored three times in the bottom of the second. After Coker and Kail drew walks, Gardner belted a triple. Neely brought him home with a single. DCHS led 7-6.

The Bucks knotted the score at 7 in the top of the third when Terrell Pearson led off with a single, moved to third on a single by Zach Higgins and came home on a miscue. Dove Creek came right back to lead 8-7 when Beanland opened with a single and later scored on an error.

Monticello scored another unearned run in the fourth when Joe Adams reached base on an error. He advanced to third on another error and scored on a wild pitch. That put MHS up 8-8. The Bulldogs went up 9-8 in the bottom of the inning when Pierce led off with a triple. He later scored when Neely reached first on an error.

Dolores County scored twice more in the fifth when Kail knocked in Trent Daves who had walked and Pierce brought Buffington in after he had put down a nice bunt single earlier. Monticello scored once in the top of the seventh and left two runners on.

Dallas Daves relieved Coker and picked up the win. Joe Adams went the distance for Monticello but was tagged with the loss.

Also in Class 2A action, Nucla swept a twin bill at home from Dolores, winning both games in five innings, 12-2 and 10-0. The Bears finished with a respectable 6-10 overall record considering they were 1-14 the year before.

In the opener, the Mustangs scored four times in the first inning and pushed five more across the dish in the third and added two more in the fourth and one in the fifth. Dolores scored in the second and fourth innings.

Nucla’s Shawn Ficklin did the most damage by going four-for-four including hitting solo homers in the first and fourth innings. Jason Mock went three-for-four including smacking a home run in the first. Michael Epright also hit a dinger in the first. For the Bears, Creed Williford knocked in two runs with a single. Brady Blackmer and Aeson Reed had the only other safeties for the Bears.

Mock completely shut down the Dolores batters. He fanned 12 and did not allow a walk. Kevin Fane started and picked up the loss. He was relieved by Colter Dunagan who mopped up.

In the nightcap, Nucla scored once in the top of the first and then added four in the third and five in the fourth.

Epright slugged two home runs in the game for Nucla. Cullen Zion and Williford each had hits for Dolores.

Josh Hainey went the distance and picked up the win while Zion took the loss.

Last Saturday, April 14, Dolores beat Montezuma-Cortez JVs for the third time this season with an easy 16-6 win at Gonzales Field at Joe Rowell Park.

Dolores led 5-0 after the first inning and 7-2 after three. MCHS scored four times in the fifth but DHS responded by nine in the bottom of the sixth.

The Bears hit the ball very well that game, accounting for 18 hits. All the runs were earned. Blackmer led the way by going four-for-five. Fane went three-for-five with a triple and two runs batted in. Nick Martin, Zion, Dunagan, Casey Garvin, and Anthony Mestas all had two hits apiece. Kade Fox went two-for-four for the young Panthers.

Williford started and picked up the win. Fane relieved him and was credited with a save. Travis Spruell threw all seven innings for MCHS JVs and was tagged with the loss.

"I knew going into this year that we were going to young," DHS head coach Jim Everin said. "They got pounded on last year as freshmen. We improved but were not yet with the Nuclas and Dove Creeks. They have some ability but haven’t yet learned to get over the hump. They haven’t learned to put teams away. We have some good things to build on for next year as we only lose one player."

Nucla captured the San Juan Basin League title with a doubleheader sweep of Dolores County also last Saturday. The Mustangs won 5-3 in the first game and 14-7 in the second in games played at Nucla.

Mock, Thomas Stevenson, Chris Robuck, and Ficklin all had two hits each for Nucla. Neely had two singles. Nucla broke a 1-1 tie in the third with two runs and added two more in the fourth. Dove Creek scored twice in the fourth. What cost the Bulldogs the game were four errors. Mock was the winning pitcher with 10 strike outs. Coker took the loss.

In the second game, the Bulldogs committed five miscues. They did get 10 hits (Coker, Kyle Krafka, Neely and Dallas Daves with two each). Epright, Mock, Ficklin, and Stevenson all hit twice. Hainey picked up the win while Pierce grabbed the loss.

In Southwestern League action, Durango crushed Cortez 10-0 in five innings at Kevin Walden Memorial Field at DHS. The Panthers dipped to 2-14 overall and 0-8 in SWL.

Cy Rauworth went the distance and chalked up the win. Preston Cornett pitched the whole game for the Panthers and took the loss. Durango led 4-0 after the first and 7-0 after two innings and coasted from there. Reed Duvall and Chris Woolverton had doubles for Durango while Josh Knapp tripled for MCHS.

The Panthers will host Montrose at 3 p.m. Friday, April 27, and host top-ranked Central of Grand Junction at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 28, at Englehart Field.