Baseball: No. 2-ranked Basalt beats Grand Valley

BASALT – The Longhorns battled the elements and the Cardinals on Tuesday afternoon.

They won on both counts.

The Basalt High School baseball team reinforced its Class 3A state ranking with a 13-3 win over Grand Valley on a cold, windy afternoon at the BHS field.

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“It was not pretty, not pretty at all,” Basalt head coach Rick Ryan said. “They (Cardinals) were better than their record (indicates). They hit the ball.”

But, Ryan said, the Basalt defense, once again, stepped up and made big-time plays to help the Longhorns improve to 11-1 overall, 11-0 in the Western Slope League.

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“Our outfield is really good, and they made some plays at the fence (early in the game),” Ryan said.

He said the normally hot-hitting Longhorns did not hit as effectively as usual against Grand Valley.

“But we put pressure on with our baserunning,” Ryan said.

A bunt single from Tim Johnson to drive in a run sparked the Basalt offense, he said.

“Carlos Leal had two hits for us, and Cody Banc had a two-run double to put us in the 10-run rule,” Ryan said.

Nick Calabro pitched for Basalt, picking up the win.

“The defense made the plays again, which was key,” Ryan said of the Longhorns, ranked No. 2 in Class 3A this week by MaxPreps. They are ranked No. 6 in The Denver Post poll.

Eaton leads 3A in both polls.

“The game was a lot closer than (13-3),” Ryan said, adding that Grand Valley has been plagued by one tough inning in most of its games. The Cardinals are 2-8 in league, 2-9 overall.

“Yes, it was cold. I’m still freezing,” Ryan said in a telephone interview after the game. “It was about 35 degrees when we started. And windy. It was cold from 2 o’clock until the end.”

Basalt will head to Meeker for a 4 p.m. game Thursday, a makeup of an earlier snowed-out game.