Pueblo County baseball team's season ends in 4A Region 7 championship game

Their identity all season has been to battle to the end.

The Pueblo County High School baseball team did just that before falling in the Class 4A Region 7 tournament championship game on Friday on Hobbs Field at the Runyon Sports Complex.

The South-Central League co-champions fell to Severance 6-5 in a competitive title game that came down to the last swing.

The loss ended the Hornets' season at 18-7, while Severance (18-7), a second-year varsity program, moves on to the final eight next week in Colorado Springs.

"It's a good group of kids," Severance head coach Kevin Johnson said. "They all came together when we opened a new school. We keep competing, that's what I like about these kids. They have some composure."

Five Pueblo-area schools reach baseball postseason:Pueblo West, Pueblo County earn host berths, 2 other S-CL teams qualify for postseason baseball

The No. 7 seed in the 32-team tournament, Pueblo County reached the regional championship game with an 8-3 triumph over No. 26 Discovery Canyon earlier in the day.

Discovery Canyon, the No. 10 seed, had defeated No. 23 Air Academy 9-5 in its first game on Friday to reach the title game.

Here are takeaways from the Class 4A Region 7 tournament:

Hornets' rally falls short

Pueblo County fell behind 3-0 in the first inning of the title game before doing what it always does, battling back. It became a theme for the game.

The Hornets tallied a run in the first inning on an RBI groundout by Peyton Miller and closed to within 3-2 with another run in the second inning when Braxton Vail singled, stole second base, moved to third on a fielder's choice, and scored on a wild pitch.

After the Silver Knights plated three runs in the fifth to grab a 6-2 advantage, Pueblo County came back again. It scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to close to within 6-4 on RBIs from Jace Barger and Miller.

Pueblo County's three-sport standout Jace Barger:Three-sport standout Jace Barger going out in style with the Pueblo County baseball team

The game remained that way until the bottom of the seventh when the Hornets threatened once more. They managed to load the bases with no outs against Severance closer Mason Bright. But Miller grounded into a force out at home plate and another out was recorded on another force out with a run scoring to make it 6-5.

With runners at first and second and two outs, Vail grounded into a fielder's choice where the Pueblo County runner was called out at second base on a force out to end the game.

Fast start for Severance

The Silver Knights started quickly by pushing across three runs in the first inning against Pueblo County starter Roy Higinbotham. A single by Cam Christensen followed by a double by Carson Fagun and a walk to Nolan Hertzke loaded the bases.

Mason Bright then delivered a two-run single to give Severance a 2-0 lead and Hertzke came around to score on a double steal.

The end of a strong season

Pueblo County head coach Matt Eads reflected on an outstanding season with a young team.

"They scrapped to the bitter end, I'm so proud of them," Eades said. "We fell behind in the first game and battled back, fought, earned the right to play in the second game. And that's a good ball team that beat us in the second game.

"Down 6-2 they could have packed up the tents. But they fought to the bitter end."

Pueblo County senior Derek Dominico put the season in perspective.

"This team was the best, fought together, won together, lost together, did everything together," he said. "It's sad to say goodbye. It's just tough.

"It's been amazing to get to play with such good people and have great coaches. The people you get to be around have been amazing."

Eades had nothing but praise for his four seniors.

"Peyton Miller was fantastic today, I think he had four or five hits," Eades said. "Jace (Barger) and Derek (Dominico) did what they always do. Joel (Gonzales), we asked a guy to play defense all day, get swung for, and put him in the biggest moment of the game and bunts for a base hit.

"They did everything they possibly do to keep their careers going. We just came up one swing short."

Chieftain senior sports reporter Jeff Letofsky can be reached by email at jletofsky@chieftain.com or on Twitter @jeffletofsky