After a pair of losses on Friday and Saturday, the Durango High School baseball team slipped to 9-12 overall and No. 33 in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Class 4A Selection and Seeding Index.
With only the top 32 teams making the playoffs, DHS is just on the outside of the bubble with two games remaining. The Demons, however, will wrap up their regular season against arguably their toughest competition yet, the No. 2 team in Class 5A’s index, Fruita Monument (17-2).
The teams are scheduled to square off at 4 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday in Fruita.
DHS most recently played a pair of nonleague games against teams in good position to make the postseason.
On Friday, DHS lost 9-6 to Roaring Fork, the No. 18 in the Class 3A index.
The Demons then fell 9-2 on Saturday to Rifle, the No. 22 team in the Class 4A index.
The Demons committed four errors in both losses.
Against Roaring Fork, DHS trailed 9-2 entering the seventh inning and rallied for four runs, but couldn’t quite catch the Rams.
AJ Folk hit his second home run of the season and finished with two RBIs for Durango. Michael Benner and Gavin Hamlin scored two runs apiece. Ian Szura also had a base hit for DHS.
Tagert Bardin threw four innings and took the loss. He struck out five Rams, walked three and gave up five hits and six earned runs.
Against Rifle, DHS found itself trailing 4-0 after one inning and 9-0 after five. Lane Greenlee and Benner came around to score sixth-inning runs for the Demons, but DHS couldn’t add any more. Tanner Coddington recorded the team’s only RBI in the game. Brad Hansen also hit a triple, but was stranded on base.
Coddington also took the loss on the mound for DHS. Coddington threw five innings, striking out seven while walking three, allowing nine base hits and six earned runs.
DHS has now lost four straight and six of its last seven games. Fruita has won seven straight and with a perfect 6-0 4A/5A Southwestern League record, has already won the league title. Montrose (10-10, 4-4) is second in the league, followed by Grand Junction (13-8, 3-3), Grand Junction Central (10-10, 2-4) and the Demons (9-12, 1-5).
