Scott Nielson didn’t have to swing the bat much Saturday. The one time he did, it changed the game.
With two runners on base and one out in a 1-1 game in the top of the seventh inning, Nielson took a belt-high outside fastball the opposite way to right field for a two-run triple, giving his team a 3-1 lead that would stand up to give Grand Junction High School baseball a win at Durango High School on Saturday at Walden Memorial Field.
“It was crucial. I just knew at that point in the game that I had to pull through,” said Nielson, the Tigers’ senior center fielder who was 1-for-1 at the plate with three walks. “Pretty hyped after that.”
Grand Junction (8-4, 1-2 Southwestern League) worked out of trouble in the bottom of the seventh, as the Demons (4-8, 0-4 SWL) tried to tie or win the game in the final frame. The Demons got two runners on base with no outs, but Peyton Woolverton popped a bunt attempt back to Grand Junction pitcher Caleb Coleman for the first out, and Coleman turned around and fired to second base to double off junior catcher Zach Szura, who was running on contact. Coleman then got junior Orion Clay to pop out to center field to end the game.
“We have a guy lead off an inning with a good hit, then we get a timely walk, but then we lose a little focus and get doubled up,” DHS head coach Eric Baker said. “Untimely mistakes.”
DHS made another untimely mistake in the bottom of the sixth inning with the game still tied at 1. Kyle Duran, a junior center fielder, drew a one-out walk in front of the red-hot Casey Dunlap, who entered Saturday with four homers in his last two games. But Duran was picked off first base by Coleman right before Dunlap delivered a double that likely would have scored Duran all the way from first.
“That’s a tough thing. The kids always feel like ‘Oh, I was safe.’ Unfortunately, it was too close,” Baker said.
Coleman pitched a complete game for the win, the first of the league season for the Tigers. He allowed four hits and struck out five while issuing three walks. Through four innings, he had faced the minimum 12 DHS batters.
“I was feeling pumped the whole day, in the zone,” Coleman said. “My team was helping me out with everything and kept me in the game as I went on. In the dugout, guys were pumping me up and keeping me locked in the zone.”
Outside of Dunlap, the Demons’ offense is struggling during a five-game losing streak. DHS only has scored 10 runs in the last 10 games, struggling to sit back and wait on curveballs during that stretch.
“It looks like it’s becoming more and more, and unfortunately, it is affecting us,” Baker said of the volume of curveballs his team has faced. “We have to adjust at the dish and wait back on that and take it the other way. Right now, we’re trying to pull it.”
DHS’ lone run Saturday came on a RBI-double from Dayne Rowley that scored Szura, who reached on an error earlier in the fifth inning.
Rowley also was the Demons’ starting pitcher. He pitched five-plus innings and allowed only one hit and one earned run. He struggled a bit with command, issuing six walks.
“I feel really good about his performance. He’s making great strides,” Baker said of Rowley, who is signed to Metro State. “Cut out a few of those walks and he’ll be really tough.”
Dunlap pitched in relief and got a double-play ball to get DHS out of trouble in the top of the sixth. In the seventh, he allowed two hits and walked two while giving up Nielson’s two-run triple.
“The one really hard-hit ball of the day, and it means a ton,” Baker said of Nielson’s triple. “That is baseball.”
Desperate for a win in league-play, the Demons will play Tuesday at Montezuma-Cortez (6-4, 0-2 SWL).
“I felt like we had a good overall performance (Saturday),” Baker said. “The energy was high and the kids are fighting hard. It’s tough not to see them have success, but that’s life. We have to strap it on and come out fighting hard again next game.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
