How’s this for a baseball doubleheader?
Game 1: Clay Miller throws a perfect game.
Game 2: Matthew Knickerbocker pitches a no-hitter.
And so it goes for the state-ranked Bayfield High School baseball team Saturday in Monte Vista.
“Our pitching is just really, really stellar,” BHS head coach Tom Horton said, with slow emphasis on the “really, really”
Miller, the Colorado Mesa signee that is drawing professional scouts whenever the left-hander takes the mound, struck out 14 in a 15-0, five-inning victory in the first game. He helped his cause at the plate, too: 2-for-3 with a home run, three runs scored and five runs batted in.
“He is the real deal,” Horton said of his ace’s all-around game.
The no-no was Miller’s second this year and at least his third in his high school career, Horton said.
Miller got help from Knickerbocker’s bat, too. He went 2-for-3 with a pair of triples, three runs scored and two RBIs.
Tyler Kerr, “who’s really coming on,” Horton said, went 1-for-3 with a triple and three RBIs.
BHS only had eight hits, but “we got a lot of mileage out of those particular hits,” Horton said in reference to the 10 RBIs from Kerr, Knickerbocker and Miller.
Knickerbocker might have mirrored Miller’s perfect game in Game 2 if it weren’t for a “bad-hop error at third base.”
Horton said the Pirates’ new field is a bit rough yet.
Knickerbocker struck out 12 in the Wolverines’ five-inning 13-0 victory, but the perfect game was demoted to a no-hitter with two errors.
Drake Rhodes went 3-for-4 with three runs scored.
Miller went 3-for-4 with two runs and four RBIs.
Kerr went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Darren Hoselton went 3-for-3 with two RBIs.
“We’re really coming together when we need to,” Horton said. “The boys are really focused; they want to make a serious run at this thing” – this year’s state tournament.
BHS (13-2, 4-0 Intermountain League) has four games left on its regular-season schedule, including its home finales next weekend – 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. next Saturday – against Pagosa Springs.
BHS will finish its regular season with a doubleheader May 4 at Centauri.
The state tournament will begin May 11.
BHS is ranked fourth in Class 3A but received one first-place vote by The Denver Post. Eaton received the most first-place votes, while Faith Christian is ranked second, Holy Family third and Lamar fifth in this week’s poll.
According to Horton, the Wolverines have outscored their opponents 164 to 38, and Saturday’s shutouts were their sixth and seventh, respectively, this season.
“It’s a lot easier to win games when the other team isn’t scoring any runs,” Horton said.
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