Cherry Creek baseball advances to 15th title game under Marc Johnson

LAKEWOOD — Who says small ball is dead?

Cherry Creek used a five-run fourth inning highlighted by three crafty bunts as a catalyst to beat Grandview 11-9 on Friday afternoon at All-Star Park. That propelled the Bruins into the championship against Regis Jesuit, Cherry Creek’s 15th title game appearance under retiring head coach Marc Johnson.

“(Small ball) is what broke the game up,” Johnson said. “We knew we were going to have to do some of our specialty things that we work on every day at practice and believe could make a difference in the game. It made a huge difference for us today.”

Using the team’s “hold the rope” mantra lifted from the LSU baseball dynasty, the Bruins went down 1-0 midway through the game but didn’t blink. Instead, Cherry Creek plated nine straight runs to cruise into Saturday, where the team will need to beat Regis Jesuit twice to send Johnson off with a storybook ending.

“We’re built for these situations,” said Bruins senior second baseman Brayden Yasuzawa, a Villanova commit. “We’re built to come back, we’re built for offense. We knew if we executed at the plate we’d win the game.”

CHSAA’s all-time winningest coach, in his 52nd year helming Cherry Creek, stood stoically against the dugout rail during pre-game in-and-out. Johnson, 79, spent most of the game perched on the top dugout step while the Bruins’ next head coach, assistant Joe Smith, orchestrated a trio of bunts that allowed Creek to gain a comfortable lead.

After a scoreless first three innings in which Bruins senior right-hander Tyler Weston and Grandview junior right-hander Jax Pfister were finding their grooves, Grandview finally got on the board.

The Wolves loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth, then senior Easton Flores grounded into a double play, scoring sophomore AJ Maroni. Weston then induced a pop-out to shortstop to prevent any further damage.

“I was trying to get ground balls and pound the strike zone as much as I can, and it was working for most of the game,” Weston said.

Bruins senior DH Will Taylor led off the bottom half with a double off the left-center wall, and Alex Maynard came in to courtesy run. Then the bunting clinic broke out.

Pfister balked Maynard to third before Sean Goldy bunted him home on a ball mishandled by Pfister. Tyce Smith then put a perfectly placed bunt down the third base line for a single to load the bases. Eli Rose’s single to right made it 3-1.

The small ball continued as Luke Rose bunted down the first baseline to score another run. And with two outs, Connor Larkin added to the tally with a single to right, making it 5-1.

“As a team this year, that was probably the most we’ve ever bunted in a game,” said Goldy, a junior shortstop committed to West Virginia. “Our execution in the details was huge.”

Cherry Creek chased Pfister from the game in the fifth, and sophomore right-hander Ethan Wachsmann received a rude welcome to the game when his first pitch was wild, resulting in the Bruins pushing their lead to 6-1. Wachsmann walked both batters he faced on eight pitches, giving way to senior right-hander Ben Crandall.

Luke Rose immediately tagged a sacrifice fly off Crandall, then two wild pitches extended the score to 9-1.

Grandview loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth, but Weston induced a double play and then a pop-up to limit the damage to two runs. That cut the lead to 9-3, but the Bruins tacked on two runs in the bottom of the frame.

Junior pinch-hitter Kyler Vaughn hit a two-run homer off Weston in the seventh, but the rally was too late, even as the Wolves plated four more runs. Senior right-handers Paul Hughes and Cameron Larson recorded the final two outs for Cherry Creek, with the Wolves running into an out on the bases in a failed double-steal to end the game.

“I knew Grandview had gotten hot coming into this game,” Johnson said. “So yeah, I was (nervous) in the seventh. We got a big break at the end because the final out was not easy to get.”

Friday marked the Bruins’ third win over their league rival this season. Grandview lost 11-0 to Cherry Creek in Centennial League play on April 23, then 4-1 in the second round of the state tournament. The Wolves finished 19-11, while Cherry Creek moved to 23-5-1.

Saturday’s championship game at All-Star Park is at 10 a.m. If the Bruins win, the second game is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.

Regis Jesuit has all three of its aces available in senior right-hander Liam Mosley (8-0, 1.09 ERA), sophomore right-hander Hudson Alpert (5-3, 3.29) and junior right-hander Luke Reasbeck (4-1, 3.03). Meanwhile, the Bruins have two of their top arms ready in junior right-handers Wyatt Rudden (2-1, 1.76) and Ryan Falke (7-1, 1.07).

In the 10 a.m. game, a likely matchup is Mosley versus Rudden, though neither team has announced its starter.

“We have to keep our composure in the dugout because last game against Regis (a 3-0 Raiders win in last week’s semifinal) was a bit chirpy,” Goldy said. “And we need to play our small ball because it worked today and our confidence on defense is big. We knew we had our backs to the wall entering this weekend having to win three games, but we believe (we can win two more).”