Prep baseball roundup

Staff report
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
April 16, 2008

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Hotchkiss edges Coal Ridge
In an offensive explosion, Coal Ridge fell one run short of Hotchkiss in game one with a 20-19 Class 3A Western Slope League loss on Tuesday.

The game, which was subject to rough, windy conditions, went back-and-forth throughout and the Titans, who were helped by two solo homers from Braxton Jackson, found themselves down 18-14 going into the seventh inning.

Josh Alsop got things off to a good start when he blasted a three-run homer to bring Coal Ridge within one.

That’s when the Titans strung together clutch singles to take a 19-18 lead. First, Milton Arroyo tied the game when he hit a RBI single to score Brett Burrows. Then Arroyo scored, with back-to-back hits from Jonathan Roessler and Jackson, to put the Titans up by one run.

“He is a great team player with a great attitude and got up there and smacked that ball,” said Coal Ridge head coach Luke LaBaw.

Then Hotchkiss had its turn in the seventh. After scoring one run, Hotchkiss loaded the bases, but Coal Ridge got two outs. Then the Bulldogs struck and scored to win the game.


The homers by Jackson and Alsop were the first of their careers.

The two teams then took the field to play game two, but it was called in the bottom of the fourth because of darkness. They will have to make it up, but the date to do it has not yet been decided.

Coal Ridge (3-6 WSL, 5-8 overall) will play Basalt for a doubleheader in El Jebel on Saturday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Rifle swept by Moffat
The Rifle baseball team was beaten by the wind and the Moffat County Bulldogs on Tuesday as Moffat swept the Bears in a doubleheader.

The Bulldogs won game one 5-4, but the Bears had their chance for a win when they loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh. Rifle managed to score two runs to come within one run, but Moffat struck out the final Bear batter to preserve the win.

Kyle Bond, who was battling a bacterial infection in his intestine, still managed to pitch a complete game and throw eight strikeouts in the noteworthy loss.

Moffat shutdown the Bears in game two, holding them to two hits on their way to an 11-1 victory. Despite not getting many hits, the Bears had their chances to score runs.

“We made a lot of stupid mistakes,” said Rifle head coach Troy Phillips. “We had the bases loaded, but had guys picked off and made a lot of base-running mistakes.”

Rifle fell to 4-5 in the Class 4A Western Slope League with the loss and will next travel to Palisade for another WSL doubleheader on Saturday.

Both teams had to battle the wind, which changed the game considerably.

“There were fly balls that should have gone to the outfield that were caught by infielders,” Phillips said of the windy conditions.

Basalt-Roaring Fork baseball postponed
The Basalt-Roaring Fork baseball scheduled for Tuesday in Carbondale was postponed because of the fire that broke out earlier in the day. The two teams will try to play the game today at 4 p.m. in El Jebel.