Elias Fiddler worked himself into trouble on the pitcher’s mound in the first inning. He pitched and hit the Demons to a win in the next six.
The Durango High School senior allowed four runs in the top of the first inning to the visiting Farmington Scorpions out of New Mexico on Wednesday afternoon at Walden Memorial Field on the campus of DHS. But he settled into the game and fired five innings of scoreless baseball before being relieved. He also hit the game-tying, two-run home run in the fourth inning. Later, he helped DHS get in position for an insurance run with a key single in the fifth.
Paired with stellar defense, opportunistic base running and the seventh-inning pitching of Cal Walsh, the Durango Demons captured a big 6-4 win to improve to 7-0 overall this season.
“All the kids wanted this one,” DHS head coach Rob Coddington said. “Farmington is a great-coached ball club. They’ve got great pitchers, you saw some of the defense they played and they have good hitters. These are the kind of baseball games that are going to make us better, win or lose.”
Fiddler finished the game 3-for-3 at the plate with the two-run homer, a double in the first inning and a single in the fifth. He had three runs batted in and scored once. On the mound, he went six innings and allowed four runs – three earned – on eight hits, three walks and a hit batter. He struck out two.
“I was just trying to throw too hard,” Fiddler said of his first inning on the mound. “I just kind of trusted my catcher, Tanner Coddington, and entrusted the plan the coaches had for us after that.”
After going down 4-0, DHS chipped away in the first three innings to get even. Gage Mestas led off the first inning with one of his three singles in the game, and he would score on the Fiddler double to make it 4-1.
In the second inning, Chase Robertson hit his second home run in as many days, as he hit a leadoff shot the opposite way to left field to make it 4-2.
“I think he’s rising to the occasion,” coach Coddington said of Robertson. “He’s around a bunch of good baseball players and is as competitive as any of them. He’s just a clutch kid. He mentioned to me the other day that he didn’t care what position he played or what spot he hits in the order, he just wants to play, and all of our guys are like that right now.”
With Walsh standing on first in the bottom of the third inning after he reached on a fielder’s choice, Fiddler had a gut-feeling what was going to happen next when he stepped to the plate for his second at-bat. The result was his fourth homer of the season, as he lifted a fastball in a 2-1 count over the left field fence.
“I had a feeling coming up. After facing Jordan (Vickers), who is a great pitcher, they brought in Zach (Raichel) who is a little slower, and I just had a feeling,” Fiddler said. “He threw me a fastball, and I took it out – had a little celebration for that one but tried not to overdo it. There’s no better feeling than to hit that against Farmington. I grew up playing with all those guys, so I couldn’t be happier.”
DHS would go on to take the lead later in the third. Jordan Stanley followed Fiddler’s homer with a deep double to center field, and he advanced to third when Niko Mestas grounded out to second base. That brought Robertson to the plate, who worked into a 2-2 count when the fourth pitch spun off the dirt and past the Farmington catcher. Stanley immediately read the wild pitch and scored easily to give DHS a 5-4 lead.
Mestas would lead off the fifth inning with a two-out single to left center. With one out, Fiddler came to the plate and Mestas was given the steal sign from Coddington.
When Mestas broke to steal, the Farmington second baseman slid over to cover the bag, and Fiddler placed a single through the opening on the right side of the field. Mestas advanced to third. What appeared to be a beautifully executed hit-and-run was actually a split-second reaction from Fiddler, who quickly saw the situation and threw his hands out to slap a single the other way.
“The improvement (Fiddler) has made as a baseball player is a tribute to his mentality, his work ethic, his approach to the game. He’s really a great kid for our young guys to look up to,” coach Coddington said. “That hit in the fifth, it was just a steal for Gage, but Elias read it, and that’s the kind of stuff that’s happening. He’s just playing ball and being himself and playing at a high level.”
Jack Benner would come into the game and courtesy run for Fiddler. The Farmington pitcher, Raichel, looked to fire a throw to first to try to get Benner out, as he had done an inning earlier to pick off Durango’s Ben Finneseth, but the ball went off the first baseman’s glove and rolled away, allowing Mestas to score Durango’s sixth run.
DHS threatened to score more in the fifth with the bases loaded and two outs after a Niko Mestas single. But Farmington shortstop Alec Chang would make a beautiful diving stop on a ball hit up the middle by Robertson. He was able to turn a double play to get the Scorps out of the inning.
Farmington had its own chance with the bases loaded in the sixth. With Niko Mestas loose after warming up in the bullpen, Coddington opted to stay with Fiddler in the inning. He got a quick groundball out before Ayden Wiese singled, and then Fiddler issued a walk, his first since the first inning, to Josh Eberhard. Coddington visited the mound with the idea of making a pitching change, but Fiddler wanted to finish the inning.
“I told Cod that I wanted that inning, and he let me have it. It’s great when a coach trusts you,” Fiddler said.
Fiddler would get a strikeout for the inning’s second out, but Ethan Wiese would deliver a single to load the bases. His grounder down the third baseline was snagged by Walsh, who scrambled and lunged to tag third base looking to beat Ayden Wiese to the bag for a force out, but the bang-bang play saw the Farmington runner ruled safe.
On a 2-1 count, Fiddler was able to get Farmington leadoff man Ryan Chang to pop out foul to third base, as Walsh made the catch near the DHS dugout to keep the Demons in front.
Fiddler would go to his usual catcher position in the seventh inning, and Walsh came on to close a day after he fired two innings of shutout ball against Bayfield. He recorded two quick groundball outs before Zeke Kalcich continued the game with an opposite field line drive to left. Keagan Scott then drew a four-pitch walk to put the tying run on first base. But Walsh was able to regroup and strikeout Ayden Wiese to end the game.
“Cal is a competitor,” Fiddler said. “The adrenaline goes through the roof when you can end a game with a strikeout in a spot like that.”
The Demons tallied 10 hits in the game to nine for Farmington in the well-played contest. Farmington head coach Danny Secrest noted the difference in his team using wood bats with Durango using aluminum BBCOR bats. New Mexico high school teams use wood, and Colorado teams use BBCOR. Farmington had the choice of using the alluminum option for a game in Colorado but opted not to. Durango uses wood when it plays in New Mexico, where it has two wins already this season.
“It’s a good rivalry with Durango, and I am glad we schedule the games with them,” Secrest said. “When you come here, we’re using wood and they’re using aluminum. That’s a little bit different story, and I don’t say anything to our kids because it’s part of the game, and so be it. I know our pitchers missed a couple spots, but their kids could have popped that up as easy as it could have been gone.”
Farmington started senior Jordan Vickers on the mound before going to Raichel in the middle innings. The Scorps’ aimed to save Vickers for this weekend’s marquee showdown in New Mexico’s Class 5A against Sandia (8-0).
“We had lots of runners in scoring position today with less than two outs and didn’t take advantage of it,” Secrest said. “Sandia is next. Great, bring it on. We’re going to throw our best, and he went today, and we know we are going to get (Oregon State commit Jacob Kmatz) in Game 1, so let’s go.”
DHS and Farmington will square off again June 1 in Farmington at Worley Field. Famed Ricketts Park is closed this high school season because of renovations.
Next for the Demons (2-0 5A/4A Southwestern League) is a showdown with league rival Montrose (4-2, 0-2 SWL), the 10th-ranked team in Class 4A.
“A lot of respect for Montrose. We know we’re headed for a fight,” coach Coddington said.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
