Prep: Aspen baseball splits season finale with Moffat; lacrosse awaits playoff fate
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times |
The games effectively meant nothing, but Saturday’s season-ending doubleheader against Moffat County at Crawford Field in El Jebel had all the drama of a playoff game.
The Skiers rallied for a 6-5 win in the first game before falling 11-9 in the second to end their season with a 7-12 overall record, their most wins since winning eight in 2010. MCHS fell to 6-10 this season. Neither team will make the postseason.
“Not exactly where we wanted to be, but we got some good fundamentals in place, which will hopefully allow us to have a good year next year,” Aspen coach Dave Fuentes said. “Hopefully the close losses and their experience this year will hopefully give us something to build on.”
Aspen trailed 5-1 in the first game on Saturday, but rallied for the one-run victory. The Skiers scored three runs in the fifth inning, the game tying run coming when junior Jamison Fuentes stole home.
“Good, tough game where we showed some resolve to come back and be competitive and take it,” Dave Fuentes said.
The second game was even more dramatic. AHS led 5-0 after three innings, only to watch the Bulldogs score five runs in the fourth to tie the game. Among the highlights in Game 2 was a collision at the plate that led to an AHS assistant and two fans being tossed from the game.
The game went to an eighth inning, where a three-run frame by Moffat was too much for the Skiers to overcome when they came to bat.
Aspen said goodbye to its lone senior Saturday, Yale-bound Harry Kahn, with Fuentes saying they would miss his offensive production. Beyond that, Fuentes expects to have the rest of his team back next spring.
“We’ve got a lot of returning experience and hopefully we can do something with it. I think expectations are going to be high and we just have to be careful to execute,” Dave Fuentes said. “I think we started to play confidently the last four or five games. It was good to see that the boys were believing that they can win, which is a good building block going forward.”
Also Saturday, the Basalt High School baseball team played at Olathe, winning 17-4. The Longhorns (8-9 overall) will wrap up their season Monday at Steamboat Springs.
Aspen boys lacrosse splits weekend series, awaits playoffs
The Aspen High School boys lacrosse team finished its regular season Saturday with an 11-5 loss at Durango. The Demons (12-3 overall) led 3-1 after a quarter and 5-3 at halftime before pulling away in the second half.
The loss snapped a six-game win streak for the Skiers and gave them their first league loss. However, Aspen had clinched the league title Friday with a 10-9 overtime victory at Telluride. The Skiers end the regular season 11-4 overall and 9-1 in league play.
The Class 4A state tournament bracket is expected to be announced Monday. As a league champion, Aspen is guaranteed a spot in the 16-team field. Seeds are largely determined by RPI, with Aspen being No. 7 as of Saturday afternoon.
The top eight seeds will host the first-round playoff games, all to be played on Wednesday. State quarterfinal games are scheduled for Friday at the higher-seeded team.
The Aspen girls lacrosse team, which finished the regular season 8-7 overall, also is guaranteed a playoff spot after going undefeated in league play. The AHS girls haven’t played since an 8-7 overtime loss at Cheyenne Mountain on April 29 and had an RPI of 13 as of Saturday afternoon.
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