After producing nine runs in the opening game of the 3A District 3 Tournament, the Bayfield High School baseball team ran into Dalton Chandler’s best pitching in Saturday’s tournament championship, as No. 4 Lamar eclipsed No. 13 Bayfield to end the Wolverines’ season with a 3-1 defeat.
It was crushing to say the least, especially for a senior class with lofty expectations prior to the season. The core group of seniors already saw success in the fall when the Bayfield football team went 12-0 and won the Colorado High School Activities Class 2A State Football Championship.
To come up short in baseball was tough to swallow.
“It’s a hard loss for them, they’ve put the work in,” Bayfield head coach Jonathon Qualls said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “They put the work in the past three years only to come up short. It’s tough to keep getting that close and being one hit away.”
In a pitching duel that lived up to the billing, Lamar’s Chandler pitched a complete game and struck out seven Wolverine batters in the process. Lamar’s ace got the win and allowed only six hits and one run.
Chandler was a different pitcher than when Bayfield faced Lamar on March 25 when Bayfield won 10-5.
Bayfield rocked Chandler for 12 hits in that game, but Saturday’s contest was much different.
“He threw a better game than before,” Qualls said. “We expected him to have his fastball and throw it hard, but he had a curveball that kept us off balance. Once he got in a rhythm, he just got tougher and tougher.”
With the game tied at 1-all in the bottom of the sixth inning, Lamar (17-4) capitalized on its momentum when Miguel Rodriguez drove in the two winning runs with a two-out double. Rodriguez finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs batted in and a run scored. Tyler Geddes went 2-for-3, and Andres Guevara went 1-for-2.
“It was a championship type game,” Qualls said. “We never got that key two-out hit and they did, and that was the difference.”
For Bayfield (16-5), Kelton McCoy took the loss on the mound when he came on in relief for Zane Phelps after the second inning. McCoy went four innings, gave up three hits and walked four batters. The senior struck out two but gave up two earned runs. At the plate, McCoy went hitless.
Phelps gave up one run in his two innings of work. He struggled early but worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning without giving up a run. But a leadoff double in the second inning cost him.
“Zane wasn’t having his day on the mound. He couldn’t locate his off-speed pitches,” Qualls said. “They’re good hitters that can hit fastballs. We tried to mix it up a little more.”
Bayfield’s run came on a Taed Heydinger RBI single that scored Hayden Farmer in the third inning. Farmer went 1-for-2 with a double and a run scored.
“Hayden had a really good game, probably his best day of the year,” Qualls saod. “He made some good defensive plays, and he showed what kind of player he’ll be in the future.”
Lamar will move on to the CHSAA Class 3A State Baseball Championships next weekend, while the Wolverines’ season came to a disappointing close.
Senior Taed Heydinger led off with a home run in the first inning, and the Bayfield Wolverines used a huge second to beat the Bennett Tigers 9-2 in the opening round of the 3A District 3 Tournament in Lamar.
The crowd at Lamar’s Merchant’s Park saw BHS senior Brody McGhehey throw a complete game with 10 strikeouts, as Bayfield (16-4) poured on six runs in the second inning to coast past No. 20 Bennett (10-7).
McGhehey held the Tigers’ bats to just two earned runs on the mound and went 3-for-4 with three RBIs with a double and a home run.
“He pitched well and hit well, its kind of what we expected out of Brody,” said Qualls.
The Wolverines tallied 12 hits and, Heydinger went 2-for-3 including his leadoff home run with three runs scored. Zane Phelps, Kelton McCoy and Noah Loutherback each had two hits, and Logan Sabinski added another.
Bennett’s Luke McLanahan took the loss for the Tigers, as he went 1 2/3 innings with seven hits allowed and no strikeouts.
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
