Preps: Aspen baseball’s strong spring continues; playoffs on the horizon

Spring playoff season is on the doorstep. Here’s how local teams stand with the postseason push ramping up.

Baseball

Aspen High School baseball’s stellar spring season continued Friday with a home doubleheader sweep of Moffat County. Scores were 18-2 and 12-0 at Crawford Field in El Jebel.

The Skiers are now 13-2 overall and 7-2 in league play with a couple of weeks still to go in the regular season. Entering this week, AHS was flirting with the top five of the CHSAA seeding index in Class 3A, putting them in a strong position to host regional play next month.

Aspen returns to the mound on Tuesday with a home doubleheader against Eagle Valley (10-2), one of the better teams in 4A. Game 1 is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., weather permitting.

Basalt continues to fight for its postseason hopes, although Saturday’s 17-4 and 12-1 losses to powerhouse Coal Ridge didn’t help. The Titans (10-6 overall) were sitting right at No. 10 in the 3A seeding index as of Monday afternoon. The Longhorns (No. 36) are now 7-9 overall ahead of Tuesday’s home doubleheader against Delta. Game 1 is scheduled for 1 p.m., weather permitting.

Roaring Fork (6-9 overall, No. 30 seeding index) split with Gunnison on Saturday, losing 7-6 and winning 11-9. The Rams head to Coal Ridge on Tuesday for a pair of games. Glenwood (5-12 in 4A) plays at Battle Mountain on Tuesday.

Aspen, Delta and Coal Ridge all entered the week tied atop the 3A Western Slope League standings. AHS split doubleheaders with the other two teams earlier in April and will not play either again in the regular season.

Girls soccer

Aspen girls soccer returns to the pitch on Tuesday with a 6 p.m. home game against current league runner-up Delta (9-3-1). The Skiers (6-2-3 overall) haven’t played since April 21, a 9-0 win at Grand Valley. AHS hasn’t lost since falling 3-1 to Telluride on March 13, going 5-0-3 since then.

Basalt (4-7-2) is scheduled to host league-leading Steamboat (10-3) at 4 p.m. Tuesday, weather permitting. Roaring Fork (3-6-3) will host Vail Mountain at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

As of Monday afternoon, Aspen was safely in the playoff field, sitting just outside the top 20 in the 3A seeding index. Roaring Fork was just inside the 32-team cutoff at No. 28, while Basalt was sitting just outside the top 40, leaving the Longhorns with work to do in order to make the postseason.

Boys lacrosse

Aspen boys lacrosse handled its business on Saturday with an 11-6 home win over Denver South. The victory followed Thursday’s 8-7 loss at Grand Junction — the Tigers are 13-1 overall and currently No. 2 in 4A — which is the Skiers’ only loss this season outside of falling 13-6 to current No. 1 Air Academy on March 24.

Now 10-2 overall, the Skiers head to rival Battle Mountain (9-3) on Tuesday. Game time is tentatively set or 5:30 p.m. in Edwards. AHS won 9-8 in the first meeting between the teams on April 11. Both squads enter the week ranked in the top 10 of the 4A seeding index, so Tuesday’s game could have a major impact on postseason seeding.

Aspen’s final two regular-season games are both at home: Thursday against Steamboat and Saturday against Vail Mountain for senior night.

Glenwood (7-4 overall) plays Tuesday at Vail Mountain (2-8).

Girls lacrosse

The computers continue to favor Aspen girls lacrosse, as the team remained in the top 10 of the 4A seeding index as of Monday afternoon. The Skiers were 6-6 overall following Thursday’s 12-8 loss at Roaring Fork and had been scheduled to play Monday night at top-ranked Battle Mountain.

The Skiers close out the regular season with back-to-back home games: Wednesday against Grand Junction and Friday against Montrose.

Roaring Fork (11-2 overall) heads to Summit (4-9) on Wednesday. The Rams were No. 3 in the 4A seeding index as of Monday, behind only No. 1 Battle Mountain and No. 2 Golden.

Girls tennis, girls golf, track eye postseason

The postseason is much closer for other sports. Aspen and Basalt girls tennis will head to regionals later this week in Grand Junction where players look to qualify for the May 7-9 state tournament in Colorado Springs.

Aspen girls golf still has a few regional tournaments this week and next, the last chances to qualify for the May 18-19 Class 2A state tournament at Lone Tree Country Club in Denver. There is no longer a regional tournament, golfers instead qualifying based off their best regular-season results.

Track and field enters the postseason mindset this week with the league championships, scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Grand Junction. It is the last significant chance to qualify for the May 14-16 state championships in Lakewood.

Basalt hires two new coaches

Basalt High School recently announced the hiring of two new coaches or the fall 2026 season: Mike Bromberg will take over softball with Danny Popish taking the reins for football.

Popish, a 2002 BHS graduate, takes over for Carl Frerichs, who recently stepped aside after leading the program the past 18 seasons.