Durango’s bats woke up in a big way, and the defense played a solid game behind Dakota Padoven to end a stretch of bad luck.
The Durango High School baseball team (3-7) opened a doubleheader Saturday against Battle Mountain of Edwards with a 10-6 victory. Jacob Bourdon blasted a two-run home run to left center field in the bottom of the third inning, and Mark Lamoreaux added a three-run inside-the-park homer in the fifth inning to help pace the scoring.
Durango followed up with an 11-1 mercy-rule in the second game amid rain showers and cold temperatures moving into the Durango area.
Padoven pitched a complete seven innings in the first game. He allowed six hits and two walks and struck out four. He was charged for five of the six runs the Huskies (3-8) scored.
The games started an hour late, as Battle Mountain had a long trip to Durango through inclement weather. The Demons got after the Huskies right away but left the bases loaded without scoring a run in each of the first two innings. Bourdon made sure Durango would hang a number on the scoreboard in the third with his no-doubt homer on a 1-2 fastball that also scored Peyton Woolverton.
“We kind of left some runs on the field the first couple innings and the past few games,” Bourdon said. “It felt good to finally take advantage and score some runs to help our team and pitching out.”
David Reilly of Battle Mountain answered back in the top of the fourth with a two-run single that tied the game.
Lamoreaux ripped a double off the left field fence to get a rally going in the bottom of the fourth for Durango. With the bases loaded, Gavin Mestas had a sacrifice fly that gave DHS a 3-2 lead, and Woolverton followed with a two-out, two-run double to right center field that pushed the Demons lead to 5-2.
Lamoreaux went to opposite field on a curveball with two runners on base in the fifth. There was a play at the plate as Lamoreaux went for the inside-the-park homer, but the catcher couldn’t handle the ball as the Demon slid safely into home.
“I saw it get down and knew I was going to get a triple,” Lamoreaux said, “but I saw coach waving me around and I knew I was going to score that third run.”
Tyler Ruetschle added an RBI double down the third-base line in the sixth to pad Durango’s lead to 10-6. Padoven closed out the game from there behind a few nice plays on the Demon infield.
Dawson Marcum had a great game at catcher in his first game behind the plate in two years. DHS was without its regular starting catcher for the first game and had its junior varsity catcher away during spring break. Marcum filled in brilliantly, blocking balls in the dirt and getting outs with his arm and glove when needed.
It was all Demons in Game 2 behind the pitching of Mestas. The Durango junior pitcher allowed only three hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked three with one run allowed.
Woolverton was 3-for-3 at the plate with a triple, three RBIs and one run scored. Mestas also went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs and three runs scored.
“I’m super proud of the team coming out and winning two games,” Woolverton said. “We could easily have laid down losing so many close games against some good teams, and we came out and did what we needed to do.”
Lamoreaux drove in another run in the second game and scored twice on a 1-for-3 showing at the plate with a walk.
Max Hyson also drove in a run in the second game, as he went 1-for-2 with a walk.
The Demons did it all in tough spring conditions on a field the coaches and players worked hard to make playable after snow and rain in the 24 hours leading up to first pitch.
“It was awesome to see Gavin and Dakota pitching and our defense play well in some tough conditions,” Woolverton said.
Saturday provided two big confidence-boosting wins for Durango, which had lost seven games by a combined eight runs. The win ended a three-game losing skid for the Demons, who will begin 4A/5A Southwestern League play at 3:30 p.m. Friday at Grand Junction Central.
“The bats have been good all year, but it was nice to be at home after eight games on the road,” Lamoreaux said. “Our record doesn’t reflect our play, and this team has great talent. League starts next week, and it feels good to head in with some fire.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
