{"id":46163,"date":"2021-06-21T03:17:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T09:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-rallies-to-beat-haxtun-loses-a-nail-biter-in-state-quarterfinals\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:29:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:29:58","slug":"dove-creek-rallies-to-beat-haxtun-loses-a-nail-biter-in-state-quarterfinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-rallies-to-beat-haxtun-loses-a-nail-biter-in-state-quarterfinals\/","title":{"rendered":"Dove Creek rallies to beat Haxtun, loses a nail-biter in state quarterfinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hayden
Hayden Gray of the Dove Creek Bulldogs turned in one of the best performances of his career, working six innings and striking out 12 Haxtun batters.<\/span>Katti Gardner\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

JOHNSTOWN \u2013 Not a day for the faint-hearted.<\/p>\n

Dove Creek baseball went through a full range of emotions \u2013 from exultation to heartbreak \u2013 in a span of a few hours Saturday, as the Bulldogs rallied to win their playoff opener, 12-11, in extra innings over Haxtun, before dropping their meeting with top-seed Flatirons Academy, 1-0, in the state quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

Entering as the No. 8 seed in the 1A postseason, the Bulldogs (10-7, 3-1 2A\/1A San Juan Basin League) faced off against No. 9 Haxtun in the opening round, with the winner slated to meet with No. 1 Flatirons Academy in a winner-take-all meeting to decide one of four spots in the state semifinals.<\/p>\n

Head coach Trent Daves handed the ball to senior Hayden Gray to try to keep the fifth-place team out of the 2A\/1A Lower Platte League at bay.<\/p>\n

In his last pitching outing for the Bulldogs, Gray turned in one of the best performances of his career, working six innings and striking out 12 Fighting Bulldog batters.<\/p>\n

The offense supported Gray\u2019s stellar pitching by chalking up runs in four of the six innings of his outing, including three runs in the second, and two more in the sixth. Gray would turn over the ball to classmate Branson Smith with a 7-4 lead heading into the seventh.<\/p>\n

Haxtun would rally, however, with three runs in the top half of the inning to tie the game and force extra innings. Then, with momentum in their camp, the Fighting Bulldogs would score four more in the top of the eighth to build an 11-7 lead, putting Dove Creek on the brink of elimination.<\/p>\n

Showing the resilience that made them competitive against some of the best teams in Southwest Colorado, Dove Creek put together a massive rally in the bottom half of the inning. Using multi-hit days from senior JJ Brunner and Isaiah Knox, the Bulldogs batted around in their half of the eighth, to walk off with a five-run inning to spark the celebrations and send the Bulldogs forward in the bracket.<\/p>\n

\"Short-stop
Short-stop Kevin Purkat and second baseman Branson Smith (3) of the Dove Creek Bulldogs on Saturday against Haxtun.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Senior Kevin Purkat added a pair of hits, as did junior Ryan Jarmon, to spark a 13-hit performance for the Bulldogs, while Gray aided his own effort by reaching safely four times, and scoring each time he reached base.<\/p>\n

Just minutes after their celebrations toned down, Dove Creek would have to refocus on their second game of the day, taking on Flatirons Academy, from Westminster.<\/p>\n

Winners of their district league, the Bison would send junior Evan Moll to the mound, one of the most prolific strikeout pitchers in the classification. Dove Creek countered with Purkat, and the two set out to produce one of the best pitching duels of the season.<\/p>\n

Neither hurler would give an inch over three innings, as Dove Creek struggled to find the offensive traction that they had enjoyed hours earlier.<\/p>\n

\"During
During a pitching duel with No. 1 Flatirons Academy, Kevin Purkat allowed only five total base runners and struck out six in the 1-0 Dove creek loss in the state quarterfinals.<\/span>Katti Gardner\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Flatirons Academy scratched across a run in the fourth inning against Purkat, who only allowed five total base runners and struck out six, over the course of his complete game outing.<\/p>\n

As for the Bulldogs, they threatened in multiple innings against Moll, but couldn\u2019t deliver the game-tying run, capping their postseason run just shy of the championship rounds to be played on Wednesday, June 23 at University High School in Greeley. Flatirons Academy advances to play Nucla in the semifinals, with the winner to take on either Holly or Merino for the 1A state title.<\/p>\n

\"Kendall
Kendall Gardner with Dove Creek coach Trent Daves at third base Saturday morning against Haxtun.<\/span>Katti Gardner\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bulldogs top Haxtun before losing a duel between pitchers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46164,"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-46163","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\/46163","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=46163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86772,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46163\/revisions\/86772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46163"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=46163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}