The Durango High School baseball team is into the final four of the state baseball tournament for the second consecutive year.
After defeating No. 2 Longmont 7-1 early Friday afternoon, the No. 7 Demons turned around and beat No. 6 Wheat Ridge 4-1 to remain in the winners’ bracket of the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 4A State Championships.
“It is a whole different aura up here, and it is really fun baseball,” DHS head coach Rob Coddington said. “We’ve got a bunch of kids feeling good right now. We just want to stay aggressive and keep coming after people.”
Blake Dunlap pitched a complete game against Wheat Ridge (19-4) shortly after Lawrence Mayberry pitched a strong five innings before being relieved by Casey Dunlap to get the Demons (15-8) past Longmont in the double-elimination tournament.
Blake Dunlap gave up only one run on four hits while walking one and striking out four, one of which came in the final at-bat of the game.
Durango scored all four of its runs in the third inning against the Wheat Ridge Farmers, who scored their only run in the third.
“It feels good to win two games; it puts us in the driver’s seat, and we are all stoked about it,” said Blake Dunlap, son of Aaron and Julie Dunlap. “Our defense is playing fantastic right now. The guys turned a few double plays behind me, and that gave me all the confidence in the world to go out there and just throw strikes.”
Tyler Worley had a big two-run double in the third inning for DHS to help break the game open. Lawrence Mayberry was 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of stolen bases, and Hayden Sill was 2-for-3.
“Everyone stepped up in both games. We have a great mentality right now where we are going out there and having a lot of fun together,” said Worley, son of Crystal Coffey and Noah Worley. “Everyone has the opportunity to come up with big hits, and we feel like we have a good chance to get a good amount of runs on any pitcher we face.”
There was a lengthy delay in the third inning when the sprinklers were turned on at Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora, the site of both of Durango’s games Friday.
“That was right after our big inning, and the guys did a good job of not letting up or letting it be a distraction,” Coddington said of the delay. “It took awhile to get the field dry, but our guys stayed loose in the dugout, and Blake (Dunlap) made sure to move around and throw a few balls here and there. Everyone stayed calm and cool.”
The Demons will play again at 3 p.m. Saturday in the winners’ bracket at All-Star Park in Lakewood. They will face No. 4 Niwot (20-3), who defeated No. 5 Green Mountain 15-11 before taking down No. 1 Palmer Ridge 5-4 in walk-off fashion.
The winner of Saturday’s game will advance directly to the Class 4A state championship, which will be held May 24 at All-Star Park.
DHS ended Niwot’s season one year ago in the district round of the state tournament with a 14-9 victory.
“We know they have some tough kids. They are well-coached, and they have tradition at their school,” Coddington said of the Niwot Cougars. “They have a lot of kids returning from last year’s team, and we are going to have to play our best baseball to get after them.”
Ben Wiley will get the ball as the starting pitcher for the Demons on Saturday. Coddington said Casey Dunlap also could bounce back for a few innings, and Sill will be available to pitch.
“We should be able to get by with Ben, (Sill) and Casey Dunlap, but we also have plenty of kids to choose from if needed,” Coddington said. “Ben is coming off being gone for a couple of games, and he is feeling good.”
Durango 7, Longmont 1
Strong pitching and timely hitting kept the Durango Demons in the winners’ bracket after one round of the state baseball tournament.
No. 7 Durango received five strong innings of pitching from sophomore Lawrence Mayberry, as Durango advanced past No. 2 Longmont (14-8) with a 7-1 victory in the first round of the eight-team, double-elimination CHSAA State Championships. The game was played at Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora.
Lawrence Mayberry pitched five innings of shutout baseball. He struck out one and issued one walk. Casey Dunlap pitched two innings in relief, allowing one run on one hit while striking out one and walking two.
“Lawrence did an outstanding job, and Casey, too,” Coddington said. “Lawrence started getting a little tired. It is just different up here; everyone is hustling and pushing themselves as hard as they can, and Lawrence ran a lot of bases. When he got tired, Casey did his job to help us come away with a great win.”
The Demons tacked on one early run before adding two runs in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
Blake Dunlap was 2-for-4 with three runs batted in and a double. Jeremy Szura was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and Worley was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Casey Dunlap was 1-for-3 with an RBI double, and Isiah Mayberry was 1-for-3 with an RBI to help the Demons score the first run of the game in the first inning.
“It was a great piece of hitting,” Coddington said of Isiah Mayberry’s first-inning RBI.
The Longmont Trojans scored their only run in the sixth inning.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
