Gus Kidd provided all the run support Gage Mestas would need, and the Demons kept tacking runs up on the scoreboard for good measure, as the Durango High School baseball team stunned
It was a big win for the Demons on a special day for the “Strikekout Childhood Cancer” benefit game. DHS wore gold jerseys and accepted donations for cancer research.
“We surprise people,” Kidd said. “We even surprised ourselves. We knew where Montrose was as a team. They beat Fruita, and we got run-ruled by Fruita last week. We came out firing nonetheless. We don’t care about our opponent; we just come out swinging and try to have a good time.”
Mestas pitched a complete game for the Demons (7-9, 1-2 SWL), as he allowed only two hits and a walk while he struck out eight Montrose (15-4, 3-2 SWL) batters in the game.
“I trusted my defense today,” Mestas said. “I was going to let them do their job. I felt like if I threw strikes, they’d put it in play and our defense would do the work, and they did.
“I really hope we can put together a winning streak. The team took this week of practice very serious and prepared for these guys well. Taking this win was very important for us.”
DHS scored two runs in the bottom of the second to take an early lead. Elias Fiddler led off the inning with a single and reached third on an error in the Montrose outfield. Fiddler scored on a Sten Joyner sacrifice fly two batters later, and Kidd followed with a solo home run that soared over the scoreboard in left field.
Mestas said that homer from Kidd, who went 3-for-3 with four runs batted in, gave the entire DHS dugout a boost.
“Gus taking it over the scoreboard got us all up as a team,” Mestas said. “It had us all talking more and encouraging each other at the plate.”
Kidd is the DHS catcher. He said having Mestas on the mound with a 2-0 lead early was all the confidence the Demons needed to beat a Montrose team that entered the game with three consecutive wins and nine victories in its previous 10 games.
“It’s my favorite day,” Kidd said of catching Mestas. “He hasn’t had a bad day pitching. Maybe it doesn’t always show on the scoreboard, but he’s always hitting his spots and hasn’t had a game where he’s missing his spots. If they have a good game against him, it’s because they’re a killer good team, not because he’s missing.”
The Demons tacked on four more runs in the third inning and five in the fifth. Mestas got the third inning going when he laced a double down the third base line. He scored on a Cal Walsh two-out single. Fiddler then walked before Jordan Stanley ripped an RBI-single. Joyner followed with another single before Kidd’s two-run single stretched the lead to 6-0.
Mestas led off the fourth inning with a walk. Dawson Marcum then reached on an error before Walsh singled. With the bases loaded, Fiddler lifted a sacrifice fly to score Mestas. Stanley then came through with his second RBI-single of the game to start a stretch of three consecutive run-producing singles for DHS, as Joyner and Kidd followed suit.
[image;3]Mestas appeared to be in trouble in the third inning as Montrose leadoff man Emmert Kastendieck came through with a one-out single and stole second base. Mestas then walked Dylan James, and Dustin Boone reached on an error to load the bases. Right after DHS shortstop Cal Walsh had Boone’s line drive go off his glove, he started a double play on an Indy Laird groundball to get the Demons out of the inning unscathed.
“Cal being able to flush it so fast and then turn a double play and get us out of that inning, without that we could have gone down,” Mestas said. “It was big.”
Montrose threatened early in the fourth inning when Trey Schwardtfeger reached on a Durango throwing error on the infield. But Mestas recorded two consecutive strikeouts before he got Keagan Goodwin to foul out to left field. Fiddler chased down the foul pop-up deep into the outfield and hauled in an over-the-shoulder catch to end the inning.
“Phenomenal catch,” Mestas said.
DHS chased Montrose starting pitcher Bridger Davis after 2 2/3 innings. He allowed six runs – five earned – on six hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Nolan Boone pitched the final 1 1/3 innings in relief, and the Demons squared up his fastball for five hits and took a pair of walks.
“We had their pitchers pretty dialed in,” Kidd said. “We saw tendencies and caught on really quick and put them in position where they had to throw fastballs. We had runners on the whole time, and that helped a lot.”
The Demons and Indians will square off again at 10 a.m. Saturday. Fynn Hyson is expected to pitch for the Demons, while Montrose will likely start Schwardtfeger, who is 4-0 with a 3.00 earned-run average.
Montrose head coach Landon Wareham was unhappy with his team’s performance Friday.
“I’d take just showing up as a start,” he said of what his team needs to do to bounce back. “(Mestas) did a good job throwing two pitches for a strike, and we were pretty easy to beat.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.co
