First-inning errors showed the Demons were as cold to start Friday’s game as the weather they played in.
Facing the second-best team in the Southwestern League, the Durango High School baseball team shot itself in the foot from the get-go, as Grand Junction Central scored three runs in the top of the first inning on two hits, one walk and four DHS errors.
The cushion allowed the Warriors to keep a lead throughout the entire game, and they claimed a 8-4 victory on a cold afternoon in Durango.
“Big win, especially down here, because Durango is always good down here and plays tough,” Grand Junction Central head coach Chuck Yost said.
The Warriors (11-4, 5-2 SWL) tallied 15 hits to eight for Durango (5-9, 1-5 SWL).
DHS starting pitcher Dayne Rowley was strong on the mound, inducing groundballs and staying in the strike zone. He issued only two walks and struck out one, but all 15 hits went against him in his 6 2/3 innings of work.
“I was feeling great all the way through the game, better and better each inning,” said Rowley, son of Darren and Kari Rowley. “I got a lot of grounders and flyballs, and that’s all I can do.
“I wish I could’ve gone the whole game, but they were hitting the ball on me.”
After DHS surrendered three runs in the first, the defense settled in and only committed one error the rest of the game.
DHS steadily climbed back into the game, but timely hits evaded the Demons.
DHS got on the board in the bottom of the third inning, when a Hayden Sill double scored Lawrence Mayberry. Sill scored a batter later on a ground-rule double off the bat of Casey Dunlap. Sill was 2-for-3 with a walk in the game.
The Demons made it a 6-4 game in the bottom of the fifth, when Rowley hit a sacrifice fly that scored Kyle Duran after Dunlap took home on a wild pitch.
With the game still 6-4 in the bottom of the sixth, DHS loaded the bases on walks issued to Orion Clay, Dunlap and Sill. Dunlap’s came intentionally, as first base was open after the other runners advanced on a passed ball.
Grand Junction Central closer Mike Estep was able to strike out Duran to end the threat with DHS leaving the bases loaded.
“I think the passed ball was the best thing for us so we could walk (Dunlap), because he’s a heck of a hitter,” Yost said. “Mike came in and made some big pitches.”
Estep recorded a four-out save for the Warriors. He’s a big addition to the team after returning from an arm injury earlier this season.
The Warriors added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh, as Trey Garcia came up with an RBI-single and Jeremy Champlin brought in a run on a groundout to shortstop.
Champlin had a big day at the plate with three RBIs on a 3-for-4 day that included a double. Nine-hole hitter Wyatt McElwain went 4-for-4 with a double, one RBI and two runs scored.
DHS plays host to Fruita Monument (16-0, 7-0 SWL) at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Demons have losses of 11-8 and 10-0 to the Wildcats this season, but a win Saturday could give DHS some momentum it desperately needs with five games to play in the regular season.
“It would be huge. Baseball is a funny game, and it’s not something out of the realm of possibility,” DHS head coach Eric Baker said of the prospect of beating the Wildcats. “We have to play well and can’t have that many errors again in the first inning. We’ve played them close before, and we can do it again.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
