Pueblo County baseball wins first game, loses second on first day of state playoffs
The Pueblo County Hornets had an up-and-down start to the Colorado Class 4A state baseball playoffs with a victory and a loss on Friday.
The Hornets won 5-4 over Riverdale Ridge in their first game but then lost 14-6 to Severance in their second. County was set to play again Saturday at noon against Lutheran at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs.
More: Pueblo County baseball advances to state after regional playoffs
In the first game Friday, the Hornets tasked ace Braxton Vail with taking the mound against the Ravens. Vail was dealing early on in the game, giving the Ravens fits with his placement and ability to drive the fastball past them. The Hornets generated some offense early in the game with a two-run home run by Cohen Glen. County would then add another run in the fourth inning to take a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the fifth inning, Vail got into some trouble and gave up three runs, allowing Riverdale to tie the game. In the bottom of the inning, the Hornets added a run to take back the lead, then added one more in the sixth to make it a 5-3 game.
Glen replaced Vail on the mound in the sixth inning and was able to close out the Ravens. The Hornets won the game 5-4.
In the second game of the day, County took on the Silver Knights of Severance and got off to an early 3-0 lead, thanks in large part to a three-run home run from Vail in the second inning. Hornets pitcher Roy Higinbotham kept Severance scoreless through the first three innings.
In the top of the third, lightning was spotted in the area and caused a nearly two-hour delay. When play resumed, Higinbotham closed out the third but the fourth inning was rough for the Hornets: they gave up six runs, mostly due to unforced mental errors on the field. Rushing throws, not setting their feet properly, or not reading the play correctly cost the Hornets several runs. County ended up committing four errors in the game.
After losing the lead, the Hornets struggled to muster offense against Severance’s pitching. In the sixth inning, the Silver Knights added another five runs and ultimately won the game 14-6. After the game, Coach Matt Eades spoke about the team's performance and what they needed to do Saturday to stay in the playoffs.
“I thought Braxton was tough on the mound, and the kids were locked in from the jump,” Eades said. “They know what's at stake, everybody knows what's at stake. I thought we had some timely hitting and I thought we ran the bases well.”
The second game didn’t go as planned for the Hornets, but Eades was emphatic it wasn’t all on his pitcher, Higinbotham.
“I thought Roy pitched pretty well,” Eades said. “I think we made a couple of mistakes that we let snowball in that fourth inning. We let a couple of balls get away and let a couple of bad plays snowball, which we turned into trying to do too much on the base paths. I knew once we fell behind six runs or so we had to save some pitching for the next game.”
The team's game plan on Saturday is simple: No matter who their opponent is, the Hornets need to find a way to win. With one win they will advance to the next game for a chance to play in the semifinals.
“I told the kids, when we take the field tomorrow, there are six teams that have a chance to win the state title and we're one of those six,” Eades said. “They need to harness their emotions because we're back to a do-or-die. If you lose the ball game, careers are over and that's not fun. As a spectator or as a coach it's great to watch these young men and how they will react to that pressure.”
More: Here's how being adopted at birth helped mold County's Braxton Vail for college baseball
Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or on Twitter: @chowebacca.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: County goes 1-1 on first day of Colorado 4A state baseball playoffs
