3A baseball: Valley assures itself a spot in the championship game
GREELEY — Shawn Chacon is a memorable name in Colorado baseball lore. Chacon was a Greeley Central product who pitched for the Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Houston Astros.
On Wednesday, Valley senior Shawn Chacon had an outing worthy of his name with only one run given up in four innings during a 7-2 win over Colorado Academy in the Class 3A baseball tournament on Wednesday at Butch Butler Field.
The senior is cousins with the former Major League player.
“Shawn was working his way back into the rotation,” Valley coach Steve Kissler said. “He had a little bit of an elbow issue. Today he got to 49 pitches in four innings. That was awesome. We knew coming in he was going to be able to relish the moment, throw some strikes for us and keep us in the game.”
Chacon did just that, helping the Vikings earn the only undefeated record left in the 3A bracket at 3-0. They also took out Faith Christian 2-1 and Eaton 15-12 on Tuesday.
Valley (18-6) is now the one team guaranteed a bid to the state championship game on Sunday.
Eaton (a 8-2 winner over La Junta), Faith Christian (8-0 over Peak to Peak) and Colorado Academy all have one loss in the postseason, but will each be in the semifinals, as well. In a double-elimination tournament, Valley will need to be defeated twice over the weekend to be knocked out.
The team in black and gold is hoping to accomplish something they haven’t achieved in 34 years. Winning a 3A baseball crown would be the ultimate prize for a school rich in tradition in the sport with seven championships.
“The tradition is from several years ago as far as state titles go, but there is a rich tradition and a lot of the folks who played on those teams are sitting in the crowd now,” Kissler said. “They are pulling for us to hopefully get back there. That tradition is definitely ingrained into what we do here.”
To take another step in that direction, Valley needed a complete effort against a loaded Mustangs lineup. One of the Vikings’ top hitters happens to be Chacon (.483 batting average), and the senior came through again with an RBI single in the bottom of the first. In the second, Dominik Triana chipped in an RBI single of his own to push the lead to 2-0.
Colorado Academy’s Evan Reiter led off the top of the fourth inning with a double, eventually scoring on a groundout to pull within 2-1. Chacon wiggled his way out of further trouble though. In the bottom of the fourth, Tylyn Nash singled for Valley. Dillon Rudd drove in a run of his own to open a 3-1 lead.
Emmett Ela came in as relief for Colorado Academy’s Isaac Corson, who was pulled after three and two-thirds innings in which he gave up four hits and three total runs. Then, an error allowed Rudd to score.
Mercado added a single to drive in two more runs and make it 6-1. Valley scored four runs in the fourth, all but sealing a bid to the final day of the season.
Raul Rios came in to pitch for Valley, giving up a run when Ben Cole scored on a groundout in the fifth but pitching well otherwise. The Vikings answered back when Rudd tallied another RBI single in the fifth to push the lead to 7-2.
Cesar Mercado finished the game on the mound for the Vikings, giving up no runs in the sixth or seventh frames.
Valley will have a rematch with Patriot League rival Eaton at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday at Butch Butler Field in one semifinal matchup. The Vikings, who also beat the Reds 8-2 on April 25, are 2-0 against Eaton this season.
The Reds recovered from Tuesday’s loss to Valley by staying alive with an 8-2 win over La Junta on Wednesday. Eaton has won more championships in baseball than any other school in Colorado history with 11.
Faith Christian will face Colorado Academy at 10:00 a.m. in the other semifinal showdown on Saturday. They are the defending state champion after beating Manitou Springs last season. They also won 3A crowns in 2007 over Erie and 2011 over Holy Family.
Colorado Academy has never won a state title in baseball.
