Standley Lake baseball sweeps series against Wheat Ridge

WHEAT RIDGE — Standley Lake pitcher Camp DeWyse tossed a complete-game victory Saturday afternoon in a road game against Wheat Ridge.

DeWyse scattered four singles giving up just one run on a sacrifice fly by Wheat Ridge junior DJ Miller in the bottom of the fourth inning. Standley Lake cruised to a 13-1 victory to get the Gators (7-3, 2-2 in Class 4A Jeffco League) back to .500 in conference play.

“We got swept our first (league) series against Conifer and that didn’t feel good,” Standley Lake’s first-year head coach David Luongo said. “I told them they just have to keep the energy up and play the game ahead of you. We got two against Wheat Ridge. That’s pretty good.”

The Gators plated four runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings to take a commanding 13-1 lead. DeWyse finished off his complete game on the mound retiring the Farmers (1-11, 0-6) in order to end the game after five innings with the 10-run mercy rule.

“We need to compete with the teams that are challenging and exceed over the teams that we know we can beat,” DeWyse said. “Winning by this much in five innings allows us to save arms and keeps the flow going.”

It was important for Standley Lake to keep its pitching staff fresh. Junior Cannon Frost — one of the best all-around players in 4A Jeffco — hasn’t pitched since the Gators’ loss against Conifer on April 9. Frost wasn’t in the line-up against Wheat Ridge on Saturday.

“There isn’t any extra pressure,” DeWyse said of playing with Frost out of the line-up. “I trust my teammates and respect all of them. Cannon will get back when he gets back. We aren’t going to pressure him to come back sooner. We need him to be healthy for the games at the end when we finish the season.”

The Gators’ top of the order — Christopher Blanco, DeWyse, Brody Geist and CC Pina — carried the offensive load for Standley Lake. The four combined to go 8-for-14 with five RBIs and nine runs scored.

Standley Lake took advantage of three errors by the Farmers in the top of the fifth inning. Geist had a key 2-run double to left field to put Standley Lake up 11-1.

“We got some good hits,” Luongo said of the Gators’s 11 hits off Wheat Ridge starting pitcher Cian Young.

Standley Lake continues its home-and-away league series next week against Littleton and Evergreen.

“My goal and I told the kids before the season was make it to the Elite 8 (8-team 4A state tournament),” Luongo said. “I want to make the playoffs obviously, but I don’t want to make the playoffs and lose our first game.”

Wheat Ridge will attempt to end its 10-game losing streak when it hosts Alameda International (3-7, 0-6) on Tuesday, April 19, at Everitt Middle School.