Not much has gone right for the Durango baseball team this past month. The Demons have struggled to score since 4A/5A Southwestern League play began.
Friday afternoon’s home game against Fruita Monument was no different. The Durango batters couldn’t get enough hits to get scores. Fruita’s Parker Noah’s bat was on fire as hit he two home runs to lead the Wildcats to a 12-0 win in only five innings via mercy rule.
The Demons fell to 8-10 overall and 0-5 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League with the loss. Durango is on a six-game losing streak. Four of those games were double-digit losses and two of them were shutouts.
“We’ve put up a zero a couple of times in league play,” Durango head coach Austin Anderson said. “It really comes down to the mentality we have at the plate. We need to do a better job as coaches and myself of making sure each player understands their mentality and their type of swing because it’s different for everybody.”
Fruita improved to 13-4 overall and 5-0 in 4A/5A SWL play with the win.
Durango junior Jack Englund had a triple for the Demons. Sophomores Tate Rose, Austin Romero and freshman Duncan Walsh each had a hit.
Englund saw the most time at the mound with over an inning played. He allowed five runs and five hits. Junior Cully Feeney allowed a hit and junior Ro Rypkema allowed two hits, two runs and had a strikeout.
Noah led Fruita from the plate. He went 4-4 and had five RBIs and four runs scored with his two homers. Lucas Weaver went 3-3 for the Wildcats with two runs scored.
Carter Hines pitched four innings for Fruita had four strikeouts and allowed three hits.
The first three Fruita batters hit short and were able to beat the throws to first base. A low pitch bounced and Demons catcher Duncan Walsh couldn’t handle it. This allowed Noah to get home from third and put Fruita up 1-0.
Walsh struggled to gather some low pitches in the top of the first. Durango escaped the top of the inning only down 2-0.
In the bottom of the first, Durango got two quick outs after a Demon batter struck out and the next batter hit a line drive to the Fruita right fielder.
Romero hit a nice line drive to left field to be the first Demon to get on base. Sophomore Dawson McInnes was then walked to get on base with two outs. Senior Ian Szura grounded out to end the inning.
Englund had a good start to the second inning on the mound but then Noah hit a moon shot that ended up being a two-run homer to put Fruita up 4-0.
In the bottom of the second, Englund hit one deep to right field for a triple. Unfortunately, no Demon could send him home and the inning ended 4-0.
After a scoreless top of the third for Fruita, Rypkema hit a double to deep right field to start the bottom of the fourth. Sophomore Dylan Burns was able to steal two bases and get to third after a wayward throw. The Demons trailed 4-0 after three innings.
Noah put on a show for the crowd at Durango High School. With two batters on base in the fourth, he hit a nuke to left field for a three-run homer to put the Wildcats up 7-0.
Englund got replaced in the top of the fourth on the mound by Feeney after Englund gave up multiple hits.
“Noah hit two home runs, it was two pitches we missed the spot on,” Anderson said. “Other than that, Jack (Englund) had a good day on the mound, he competed his butt off. I was very proud of him for sticking with it and fighting up there.”
Fruita still got the bases loaded with two outs. Hines then hit a driven ball over Szura’s head, taking two runners home and the Wildcats led 9-0. Fruita led 10-0 after the fourth inning.
After another scoreless inning for the Demons, Rypkema got onto the mound for the Demons to start the fifth. Noah showed his power again with a deep driven ball to left field which got to the fence and was a double. Fruita went up 11-0 after a pitch got by the Durango catcher and the Wildcat on third got home. The Wildcats led 12-0 after the top of the fifth.
Durango failed to score in the bottom of the fifth and the game ended because of the mercy rule.
The Demons look to play better against the Wildcats on Saturday at 11 a.m.
“We don’t have a mentality right now,” Anderson said. “We don’t have a mentality at the plate, we don’t have a winner’s mentality on the field, the dugout and in the locker room. We are trying to turn something around right here and I hope everybody knows it’s not an overnight process to go from where we’ve been to a winning mentality and competing with any team in the state. We have the talent and boys to do it but it’s all about belief.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
