A pair of trips to state earned the baseball teams from Bayfield and Durango high schools a pair of all-state selections and a pair of honorable mentions.
Durango’s Blake Dunlap was a Class 4A all-state selection recently by The Denver Post, while Bayfield’s Clay Miller, a recent Kansas City Royals draft pick, earned the same accolade in Class 3A. Durango junior Isiah Mayberry and Bayfield sophomore Matthew Knickerbocker earned honorable mention nods in their respective classifications, as well.
Dunlap and Mayberry helped lead the Demons (13-12) to a strong late-season run all the way to the final four of the Class 4A state championships. Dunlap paced Durango offensively, hitting a robust .560 with 40 RBIs, 51 hits, 17 doubles, 10 triples and 34 runs scored.
“I know in our seven years, he’s probably the most prolific hitter, for sure. He’s real patient at the plate and takes what the pitcher gives him. ... Pretty outstanding for a high school junior,” DHS head coach Rob Coddington said earlier this year of Dunlap, who also was a first-team All-Southwestern League selection.
Mayberry stepped into the starting catcher role for DHS and immediately flourished, hitting .365 with 31 RBIs, four homers, 25 runs scored and 31 hits, earning first-team All-SWL honors.
Miller’s senior season, meanwhile, earned him the honor of being selected in the 35th round of June’s Major League Baseball draft by Kansas City. The senior southpaw was 10-0 for the state-qualifying Wolverines (20-4), compiling a 0.59 earned-run average with 137 strikeouts against just 11 walks. He allowed just 22 hits in 59 innings pitched and hit .578 at the plate, driving in 63 runs and homering 10 times.
Miller threw a perfect game, a five-inning no-hitter and combined with Knickerbocker on another no-hitter his senior season.
Knickerbocker wasn’t shabby on the mound himself, going 4-1 with four saves and a 1.87 ERA. He struck out 37 batters in 30 innings and walked only eight as part of a quality BHS pitching staff. He also hit .529 with 37 RBIs and 48 runs scored.
“The team attitude of our pitchers, they’re trying to come up with zeros every game. ... They have every intention every time they go to the mound of shutting everybody down,” BHS head coach Tom Horton said during last season’s run to an Intermountain League title.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
