No. 1 Mountain Vista baseball feels a postseason vibe in extra-inning win over No. 3 Heritage
HIGHLANDS RANCH — The baseball postseason is still over a week away. But Mountain Vista and Heritage couldn’t wait to get that playoff feeling.
After giving up a four-run lead, the Class 5A No. 1 Golden Eagles needed a walk-off single from Zach Paschke to beat the Eagles 8-7. There was heart and resiliency on both sides, but Mountain Vista continued to show why it’s considered the top team in the state.
“Not one time in that dugout did they get down or worried,” Mountain Vista coach Ron Quintana said. “They’ve been through a lot of ups and downs. A lot of these guys have played together since they were freshmen. When they were freshmen, we lost that game.”
The regular season concludes on May 5. But the feel that the Golden Eagles (17-0 overall, 8-0 Continental League) had after Clay Burke crossed the plate to the end the game was one of confidence for what the future holds.
“We know if we can hang with one of these teams and beat them, we’re capable of winning the whole thing this year,” Paschke said. “Every single person on this team knows that we’re capable of that.”
Mountain Vista stormed out to a 6-2 in the third inning thanks to hits from Drew Stahl, Sam Ireland, Grant Magill and Elisandro Aragon. All four would eventually cross the plate.
The Eagles (13-4, 6-3) got one back in the fifth, but any hopes of a major rally ended with a spectacular diving play from Stahl at second base. He got Mountain Vista out of the inning, keeping the feeling that the team still had control.
“It’s a big play, but this is a team game,” Stahl said. “We’re all good friends and to make a play like that four our pitcher, who’s throwing great all year long, means a lot to me to be able to do that for him.”
Jack Liffrig took the bump for the Golden Eagles and went 6 and 1/3, striking out five. He came out in the seventh after reaching his pitch count limit and ultimately came away with a no-decision.
It was Mason Mitchell in the sixth inning who ended Liffrig’s day, ripping a double to right-center, scoring Eric McKnight and Arian Jimenez-Qyezada to tie the game.
Griffin Shearon took over for the rest of the game and through 1 and 2/3 innings, struck out four Eagles hitters and held them hitless.
Not bad considering Mountain Vista has seen about eight innings pitched by kids not named Ireland or Liffrig.
“We didn’t know what we were going to get,” Quintana said. “That was huge for Griff. It’s just the second time he’s come out of the pen this year.”
He retired the Heritage side in order in the eighth inning and watched as Burke got on base and Paschke drove him in to win it.
The result was frustrating for Heritage. The Eagles committed six errors through the course of the game. To fight their way back only to come away empty-handed was a tough lesson for them to learn on Friday.
“We choked,” Heritage coach Tyler Munro said. “That’s what we just talked about. We gifted a game. We just played the No. 1 team in the state and the No. 25 team in the country and we gifted them six errors. We gave them that game.”
Munro said he expects every game from here on out to feel like a playoff game for his team. The Eagles have Chaparral and Valor Christian remaining on their schedule. Then games like the one on Friday won’t just have a playoff feel, they’ll have legitimate playoff implications.
