{"id":34019,"date":"2023-05-15T18:20:29","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T00:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-baseball-burns-out-in-colorado-springs\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:15:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:15:38","slug":"dove-creek-baseball-burns-out-in-colorado-springs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-baseball-burns-out-in-colorado-springs\/","title":{"rendered":"Dove Creek baseball burns out in Colorado Springs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Dove Creek Bulldogs, mostly at right, congratulate the Simla Cubs Saturday morning, May 13, in Colorado Springs after Simla\u2019s 10-0 victory \u2013 ending DCHS\u2019 2023 season in the Class 1A State Tournament's initial Round of 16.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

COLORADO SPRINGS \u2013 Despite pitching as well as he was Saturday morning, Simla\u2019s T.J. Eurich knew the opposing coaches weren\u2019t going to intentionally walk him offensively, even to set up a potential inning-ending double play giving the designated \u201cvisitors\u201d one last chance to rally.<\/p>\n

Penned in atop the Cubs\u2019 order, and inside the batter\u2019s box after Jonathan Zimmerman flew out beginning the home half of the sixth against Dove Creek relief pitcher Cole Taber, Eurich smashed a demoralizing stand-up triple to deep left-center, then scored via a wild pitch to Wyatt Stanko \u2013 giving Eurich a chance to thank slugger Brayden Glover for his advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d been struggling at the plate and I asked Brayden, \u2018What should I do?\u2019 He was like, \u2018Just go up there and say you can!\u2019\u201d Eurich recalled. \u201cAnd I went up, just swung and hit it. I was pretty stoked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dove
Dove Creek's Cole Taber (28) pitches in relief during the Bulldogs' Class 1A State Tournament, Round of 16 game Saturday morning, May 13, versus Simla as part of the SHS-hosted Region III Tournament. The game was moved to The Classical Academy in Colorado Springs because of field conditions in Simla. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek's Hunter Daves (3) pitches during the Bulldogs' Class 1A State Tournament, Round of 16 game Saturday morning, May 13, versus Simla as part of the SHS-hosted Region III Tournament. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cPitched really good and he hit really good too,\u201d said a grinning Glover \u2013 who\u2019d receive his second intentional pass of the morning after Treven Kocerha flew to left for out number two. Stanko, however, had ended up drawing a conventional base-on-balls and then stole second base during Kocerha\u2019s plate appearance.<\/p>\n

Glover (a Western Colorado University Football commit) was put on out of respect, but more importantly to set up a game-extending force-out at any base. And with Dalton Hisle \u2013 who was 0-for-3 following Glover, 2-for-2 with a two-RBI double and a two-RBI triple \u2013 at the plate, it was the move to make.<\/p>\n

Attempting to nab Stanko stealing third just moments later, DCHS catcher Taber DeJane\u2019s errant throw missing third baseman Hunter Daves \u2013 previously the Bulldogs\u2019 starting pitcher \u2013 unfortunately wasn\u2019t, and Stanko (1-1, 2 BB, sacrifice bunt, 3 R) dashed home to sew up a 10-0 mercy-rule victory in the 2023 CHSAA Class 1A State Tournament\u2019s opening Round of 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cDove Creek \u2026 they beat us in the State Championship game for football \u2013 we needed to come out and play good,\u201d said Eurich (W; 6 IP, BB, HB, 7 K), who allowed just two hits in earning a complete-game win. \u201cAnd there\u2019s some kids on our team that haven\u2019t made it this far before. So I thought to myself, I\u2019ve got to play for those guys \u2013 one of them\u2019s my sister!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs\u2019 starting first baseman, senior Ryann Eurich ultimately preserved the shutout by diving forward to catch DeJane\u2019s sinking two-out liner as DCHS\u2019 Sheldon Gardner, aboard via an error on shortstop Stanko, motored toward second. Having scooped a DeJane grounder along the same baseline back in the Bulldogs\u2019 second, as well as a Gardner knock ending the visitors\u2019 first, the Northeastern Junior College Softball recruit totaled eight putouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe did what she\u2019s supposed to; it sure showed,\u201d T.J. Eurich said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to watch her when she goes to NJC!\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeded 14th in the bracket and facing No. 3 Simla \u2013 hosting the relocated Region III Tournament \u2013 upon The Classical Academy\u2019s Field of Dreams at Erickson Titans Sports Complex, Dove Creek totaled just two hits and six base runners in defeat. Five were stranded in scoring position at either second or third base \u2013 including Dustin Glover, running for Daves (L; 3+ IP, 4 H, 7 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 HB, 3 K) after Daves (1-3 batting) had singled with two out in the fourth.<\/p>\n

Able to steal second with DeJane up, Glover was held up at third after getting an unconvincing jump off second when DeJane (1-3) tapped a single into shallow center.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven a kid that\u2019s not superfast should score \u2026 on that ball,\u201d said DCHS head coach Trent Daves, who raised the stop sign as Glover reached the hot corner \u2013 moments before Trevan Ivie struck out looking. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t worth getting an out \u2026 but maybe we should have taken a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs\u2019 last true opportunity came in the top of the fifth. With the Cubs leading 8-0, DCHS\u2019 Liam Hassell led off drawing a walk, took second via a wild pitch to Audric Chadd, and then hurried to third when Chadd bounced back to the mound. Eurich, a sophomore righty, answered by fanning Taber \u2013 who he\u2019d beaned in the head during DCHS\u2019 third \u2013 at the top of Dove Creek\u2019s order, and Stanko made a forward-diving catch of Aiden Chadd\u2019s subsequent liner as Simla again escaped unscathed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s more work to be done,\u201d admitted Brayden Glover, not yet knowing who Simla would face in the next round, with the regional title at stake. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to go out there, just continue what we were doing \u2026 and be better at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plunked twice during the game, Kocerha ended up 0-1 with a sac-fly, two runs and one batted in, and T.J. Eurich finished 2-4 with two runs and as many RBI. Caston Cox (1-3), Teague Jones (0-3, FC) and Zimmerman (0-2, BB) each scored one run \u2013 all during the Cubs\u2019 game-breaking four-run fourth.<\/p>\n

Taber (2.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K) ended up 0-for-2, Aiden Chadd and Gardner each went 0-3 but each reached once via error, and Hassell finished 0-1 as Dove Creek finished the 2023 season standing 11-9 overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimla\u2019s a good team, had a good pitcher, and their right fielder hit the ball well,\u201d Trent Daves said. \u201cIt was up and down, all season, for us. We started off slow, then came on hot, and obviously it didn\u2019t end too well for us. But \u2026 we\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Update<\/strong>: Able to win 10-0, Simla found themselves losing 10-0 later in the day to 6-seed Haxtun, with HHS looking for a stronger performance after barely eliminating No. 11 Wiley (14-7 overall) in the second Region III semifinal, 2 to 1.<\/p>\n

The Fightin\u2019 Bulldogs improved to 21-2; the Cubs slipped to a season-ending 14-6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bulldogs are held to two hits in loss to Simla<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[470,39,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-34019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-baseball","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82446,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34019\/revisions\/82446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34019"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=34019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}