No. 3 Columbine baseball bounces back from first loss to knock off No. 1 Chatfield
LITTLETON — After a 4-3 loss to Arvada West on Monday knocked the Columbine baseball team from the unbeaten ranks, the Rebels felt they needed a solid game to get back on track.
What better way than to play another undefeated team and longtime rival?
Third-ranked Columbine scored in bunches on Tuesday to defeat newly-minted No. 1 Chatfield, 12-6.
Following come convincing victories early in the season, Rebels coach Chuck Gillman believed his team might have gotten a little lax on “some of the little things. We just got a little sloppy.”
Not that he felt the loss to Arvada West Monday was a fluke.
“They’re a good team,” he said of the Jeffco League-leading Wildcats.
That’s why it was important for his team to bounce back quickly. And they did, with a five-run first inning against the Chargers.
“It was huge,” Gillman said of getting off to a fast start as the Rebels strung together four hits and took advantage of three Chatfield errors.
They needed the cushion. Trailing 6-2 in the fourth, the two runs coming of solo home runs, Chatfield put a couple more on the board to make a game of it.
“They had the momentum,” Columbine third baseman Ty Mohr said of Chatfield.
With two outs, in the bottom of the sixth, the Rebels put a rally together, setting the table for Mohr with the bases loaded.
“I had to do something with the ball,” he said of his thinking when he stepped to the plate.
He did, putting the ball over the right field fence to give the Rebels a 10-4 lead.
From there, it was up to Rebels starting pitcher Blake Weiman.
Although he walked three batters in the seventh, Weiman eventually got the final strikeout, his ninth of the game, to secure the victory in pitching his first complete game of the season.
“We were ready for this one,” said Columbine center fielder Michael Tait, who had two hits, including a solo home run. “The loss (to Arvada West) woke us up a bit.”
The ensuring victory helped the Rebels point toward their goal this season.
“The state playoffs,” Tait said. “That’s what we’re shooting for.”
