The Durango High School baseball team’s run of strong playoff performances ended on Saturday. The Demons’ season ended because of it.
After an incredible run through regionals and a tough fight against Falcon in the first round of the 4A state playoffs, Durango ran out of gas against Cheyenne Mountain in the state consolation bracket. The Demons lost 9-1, ending their season.
“I’m proud of them for getting to where we were,” said Durango head coach Masen Hibbeler. “When you get down to the final eight, everybody's really good, the games go either way. It was just our time. We obviously wanted to pull it off, but it is what it is. I'm happy they got a taste of that moving into next season.”
No. 7 seed Durango finished its season 15-10 overall, its most wins since 2014 and the furthest the Demons went in the playoffs since 2014.
Cheyenne Mountain improved to 17-8-1 overall after the win. The No. 6-seeded Red-Tailed Hawks advanced to the second round of the consolation bracket and dominated No. 1 seed Pueblo County 14-2. Cheyenne Mountain will play No. 5 Palisade in the third round of the consolation bracket on Friday at 10 a.m.
The Red-Tailed Hawks got out to a 1-0 lead at the top of the first, but Durango responded with a run to tie the game 1-1 going into the second inning.
It was a tie game until the fifth inning, when Cheyenne Mountain exploded for five runs to take a 6-1 lead. Durango couldn’t respond and Cheyenne Mountain added three more runs at the top of the sixth to make it a 9-1 game.
Hibbeler said there were some questionable calls from the umpires that could’ve swung the game. He and one of his assistant coaches got tossed from the game in the sixth inning as Hibbeler tried to stand up for his guys.
Cheyenne Mountain outhit the Demons 11-2. Senior Nate Glad went 3-4 at bat and senior Jansen Roberts went 2-3 at bat while crushing a home run. Senior Javin Eslinger pitched all seven innings for the Red-Tailed Hawks and finished with five strikeouts, five walks and two hits allowed.
Durango juniors Austin Romero and Dawson McInnes each had a hit for the Demons. Senior Jack Englund pitched 5.1 innings and finished with four strikeouts, nine hits and nine runs allowed and three walked batters.
The Demons should be one of the stronger Durango High School sports teams next school year. Durango will be in Hibbeler’s second year and only lose three key seniors in Jack Englund, Ethan White and Cully Feeney. The Demons will return their top six hitters with their top three of McInnes, Romero and Landin “Bubba” Padilla will all be seniors next year. Durango will also return its top three pitchers with McInnes, Romero and sophomore Coen Anderson.
“Next season can't come soon enough,” Hibbeler said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. We're already back practicing summer ball. We're going to keep them together this summer, which I'm really excited about … We're going to keep getting better every day. I'm so excited that we got those guys a taste. There wasn't a single individual, from parent, coach or player who had been to playoffs … We won't forget where we were at going into next year.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
