1A Baseball: Akron Rallies for First State Championship

LAKEWOOD – Trailing all game long, and four outs away from finishing as the 1A baseball state runner-up for the second year in a row, Akron found a way.

“We just kept fighting,” Akron coach Tyler Pickens said. “That’s what these boys have done all year and their whole career. They’ve fought, fought and fought. And that’s why they deserve this.”

Akron gave up five runs in the top of the first inning Thursday against Flatirons Academy, but rallied for a thrilling come-from-behind, 8-7 victory at All-Star Park.

“We all knew we didn’t want to be runner-up again,” catcher Jakzon Livesay said. “We had to fight to the end, and that’s what we did.”

The Rams did answer with three runs in the bottom of the first inning and added another run in the fourth, but Flatirons Academy scored two in the top of the sixth to make its lead 7-4.

“Baseball is a long game,” Pickens said. “(So) Keep fighting and stay in it. Anything can happen.”

But Akron (21-4) seemed to have everything going against it late in the game.

In bottom of the sixth, after an error to lead off the inning, Jax Kusel lined into a double play snared by hard-throwing Flatirons Academy pitcher Parker Wilson.

Momentum seemingly ended, the Rams merely put together a game-turning, four-run, two-out rally.

Tucker Stahn lined a single up the middle just past Wilson’s reach. Anderson Filla walked. Caleb Poss drove in a run with an opposite-field single.

Then Livesay lined a hit to right center that just seemed to gain speed as it skittered across the artificial turf, turning it from a run-scoring single into a game-tying, two-run double that allowed Poss to score from first.

“I just knew I had to put something in play and get them in to give us a chance to come back,” Livesay said.

After a wild pitch, Alex Bowin’s go-ahead single to the hole between the first and second basemen allowed pinch runner Jace Curtis to score the go-ahead run.

Bowin, 3-for-4 with two RBIs in the championship game, said memories of last season stayed with the team.

“It was a learning opportunity,” he said. “That extra 1 percent that we could have used last year, we put it in this year to help make sure that it wouldn’t happen again. It helped fuel us.”

Stahn retired Flatirons Academy in order in the top of the seventh, and the celebration was on.

Earlier Thursday, in the semifinals, Flatirons Academy (17-6) got two hits and two RBIs from Braxton Kelley, three RBIs from Conner Odell and five strong innings of pitching from Mateo Pope to beat defending state champion Merino 10-5. The Bison are the runner-up for the third time in five years, having also finished second in 2021 and 2023.

Akron opened the day with a 14-4 win over Simla as Bowin was 3-for-3 with two RBIs and Clay Axtell was 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

Then, four times a runner-up (the Rams were also second in 1984, 2000 and 2002), Akron finally got to the top.

“It’s a long-time due it feels like, and it’s great to finally get one,” Pickens said. “These boys deserve this. They’re the ones who put in all the hard work.”