Grand Junction ended Durango High School’s five-game winning streak in walk-off fashion Saturday.
Leading 10-7 going to the bottom of the seventh inning, the Demons surrendered four runs, including a walk-off single by Tyson Zanski that scored the game’s winning run. Grand Junction won 11-10, giving the Tigers (12-6, 5-4 Southwestern League) a season sweep of the Demons (10-7, 5-5 SWL).
“It was a tough one. The kids battled all game long; unfortunately, we didn’t get the win,” DHS head coach Rob Coddington said. “The kids battled the whole way through, and we will keep battling.”
Lawrence Mayberry pitched the complete game for DHS. He was charged with eight runs on 12 hits and two walks. He struck out two.
“Lawrence did a good job and gave us a chance to win the game,” Coddington said.
Coddington said a few balk calls against Mayberry allowed a couple of the Tigers’ runs to score.
“We had to deal with a couple of rule interpretations we feel were misinterpreted with the balk calls, and it cost us runs,” Coddington said. “We overcame it and kept fighting.”
DHS scored four runs in the top of the first inning, one in the second and five more in the fifth.
Jeremy Szura was 3-for-5 with a double and one RBI. Tyler Worley was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Blake Dunlap was 1-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored, and Isiah Mayberry was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
“We had good at-bats from a lot of kids. We kept pushing runs across, and we’re still swinging the bats well,” Coddington said.
Ty Dixon was the winning pitcher for Grand Junction in 3 2/3 innings of work. He gave up five runs on five hits while walking four and striking out four.
The Demons are finished with SWL play, and they will finish the regular season next weekend with games at Valor Christian and Fort Collins on Friday and Saturday on the Front Range.
“We’ve got a big weekend of games up there, and we will have a good week of practice to be ready,” Coddington said.
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