3A Baseball: After Marathon Loss, Coal Ridge Emerges as Champion

GREELEY – The Titans finally reached the mountain top.

For the first time in school history, Coal Ridge clinched a boys team championship after securing the 3A baseball crown over University 3-2.

But it sure didn’t come easily against a blue blood program (four straight championship appearances). Game one, which the Bulldogs had to win to force a game two, was a marathon. It finally ended after 14 innings with a walkoff RBI single by University’s Joel Ramirez to make it 3-2.

Coal Ridge coach Dan Larsen knew it was a gut-wrenching loss, but still felt confident entering the finale.

“We still have the upper hand,” he told his players. “They used their two best pitchers in that last game and we still had a lot more pitching left in John Luke.”

They sure did. John Luke Houston, a junior hurler, held University to two runs on six hits to seal the championship. He was also the winning pitcher when the Titans shut out the Bulldogs 3-0 a week ago at the state tournament.

Houston’s belief was high when he asked to pitch against University on May 24. This time he didn’t call for the ball, but his coach knew who to put his trust in.

“I’m very confident with John Luke, because – he doesn’t throw very hard – but his fastball, the catcher doesn’t really know if it’s going to cut or sink,” Larsen said. “He never throws a straight one. His ball gets to the bottom of the barrel quite a bit. He had a few hard-hit balls on him, but it didn’t bother him.”

And the game one loss on Saturday didn’t bother the team either.

After registering only five hits in 14 innings during the first contest, Coal Ridge tallied six hits in the first three innings of game two.

An RBI single by Wyatt Murray lifted the Titans to a 1-0 lead. Then, an RBI triple was ripped by Ben Simons (top three in 3A in most batting categories) in the third. Houston chipped in an RBI single next, and it was 3-0.

The perennial power Bulldogs showed a lot of grit though. Gage Viken, who pitched a gem earlier in the day, had RBI singles in the fourth and sixth innings to make it 3-2.

“We knew University was going to fight,” Houston said. “They’re a good squad and we knew it was going to take being mentally tough. We played a total of three games (21 innings). It was definitely a mental battle.”

Houston snuffed out the comeback attempt in the seventh with three straight outs.

Coal Ridge had excellent pitching all day as Simons (13 strikeouts in game one), Logan Harlow (one run in six innings), and Houston (perfect 9-0 record) all limited University’s batters.

And so, the two-seeded Titans took down the No. 1-seeded Bulldogs.

Said Houston: “Nothing but pure joy. It’s absolutely huge for our community. Small town (on the Western Slope), not many people have heard of us. They have now.”