The Durango High School baseball team played its first home game on Tuesday and made the most of it, beating Alamosa 12-2 in a five-inning affair.
“It feels good,” said DHS head coach Rob Coddington. “We traveled a lot the first half, but now we’re home the majority of the season, and I think the guys will take to that.”
Against the Mean Moose, Tagert Bardin started on the mound and didn’t give up a run as the Demons built a comfortable lead with four runs in the third and four more in the fourth.
“It started good with Tagert throwing strikes,” Coddington said. “Our defense is also tightening up, and we’re swinging at our pitch at the plate.”
Bardin also got Durango’s offense going with a ground-rule double to lead off the bottom of the third. Jordan Stanley tripled to bring Bardin home. Michael Benner put the ball in play to score Stanley, reaching when the ball got by Alamosa’s shortstop. Benner got thrown out stealing third, but Gavin Hamlin and Devin Davidovich singled and Matt Pane walked to lead the bases. Brady Hansen brought Hamlin home with a sacrifice fly to shallow right field. Liam Southerland loaded the bases back up with a hit, and then JJ Hoerl drew a walk to bring home Davidovich and put DHS up, 4-0.
The Demons batted around again in the fourth inning, doubling their lead to 8-0. Davidovich hit an RBI single to bring home Benner and later scored on a wild pitch. Southerland also hit an RBI single, bringing home Pane, and Hoerl smacked a single to bring home Brady Hansen.
The Mean Moose then sent nine batters to the plate in the fifth, getting RBIs from Evan Sowards and Kade Jones. DHS catcher Pane, however, made a diving catch to get Durango out of the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, DHS was able to score four more runs to end the game early with the mercy rule, 12-2.
Stanley began the inning by driving a home run over the left field fence. DHS then loaded the bases with a Benner walk, a Davidovich single and a Pane Walk. Hansen got hit by a pitch, bringing home Benner. Then Southerland helped end the game early, hitting the ball to Alamosa’s short stop. The Moose made an error on the play, and both Davidovich and Pane ran around to score and give DS the 12-2 victory.
The Demons were also in action Saturday at Delta. DHS jumped out to a 5-0 lead after four innings, but Delta rallied back to win the game, 6-5.
“The guys played really good,” the coach said, but added he left their ace starter Tanner Coddington in an inning too long and the Panthers eventually got to him. A couple miscues in the fourth also led to a pair of Delta runs.
DHS is now 2-9 overall. Alamosa is 2-4 and Delta is 4-1.
The Demons will next host a pair of games against Grand Junction (3-8), at 4 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday, to begin its Southwestern League season.
