The road back to the state tournament will start at home for the Durango High School baseball team.
DHS (11-8) will host the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 4A District 6 tournament as the No. 7 seed.
The Demons advanced out of districts at Palisade last year to get to the elite eight in the state in the Class 4A playoffs.
They’ll host No. 26 Eagle Valley at 10 a.m. Saturday at Walden Memorial Field. No. 10 Ponderosa and No. 23 Rifle will play each other at 12:30 p.m. at DHS on the other side of the bracket.
The winners will face each other at 3 p.m. with a trip to state awaiting one team and the end of the season for the other.
DHS largely has outslugged opponents this season.
The Demons have scored more than 10 runs five times this season and average 8.63 runs per game. Those runs have come via a .354 team batting average and eight home runs by six different players.
Casey Dunlap leads the team with a .455 batting average and two home runs, while Jeremy Szura is first on the team with 23 runs batted in.
Durango’s pitching has struggled for stretches this season.
DHS has a 6.07 earned-run average for its pitching staff and 82 strikeouts on the year.
The Demons’ defense also has compiled 54 errors to contribute to a .911 team fielding percentage.
Eagle Valley (10-8-1) has faced similar problems in the field. The Devils have committed 61 errors and have an .878 team fielding percentage.
They hit .351 as a team with five home runs.
Travis Edgar paces Eagle Valley with a .528 average, 22 RBIs and two home runs.
The Devils did not qualify for last year’s playoffs.
heraldsports@ durangoherald.com
