FREDERICK
Blame Colter McMenimen, if you must.
The Bayfield High School senior extended Bayfield’s Colorado High School Activities Association Class 3A state baseball tournament opener to extra innings by scoring the tying run in the top of the seventh inning.
But the game’s third weather delay proved its last. The teams will try to finish the game at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in Frederick, depending on the weather and field conditions.
BHS trailed University 4-3 after six innings and two lengthy weather delays when its No. 9 hitter stepped into the batter’s box in Frederick. He laced a double off University ace Braydon Pief to start a Wolverines rally.
“A little nervous, but I knew he was going to throw me that slider that got me the previous at-bat,” said McMenimen, son of Missy and Todd McMenimen. “Just had to wait for my pitch.”
Anthony Chamblee tried to bunt McMenimen to third, but a University error allowed him to reach first safely. Taed Heydinger sacrificed Chamblee to second, and the Bulldogs then intentionally walked Matthew Knickerbocker to load the bases and bring up Zane Phelps.
Phelps reached on a fielder’s choice when University (15-6) threw to second, and McMenimen scored to tie the game at 4.
“(The dugout) was much better than when the inning started,” McMenimen said. “We had a lot more energy.”
Kelton McCoy, the 3A batting average, runs batted in and home run leader, came to the plate with two outs, but popped out to end the inning.
You also could blame Knickerbocker, who worked a one-two-three bottom of the seventh to send the game to extra innings.
It wouldn’t get there Friday, though.
Rain already had forced the tournament to move to Frederick from its initial site in Niwot. Then Sterling and Valley played an extra-innings game that the Tigers won 12-9, pushing back Bayfield’s 12:30 p.m. start.
Chamblee opened the top of the first inning with a single when the game finally began around 1:30 p.m. Heydinger was hit by a pitch after that, bringing Knickerbocker to the plate with two on and no outs.
Then the hail started a delay that lasted an hour-and-a-half and featured a virtuoso performance from a former Coors Field groundskeeper to prepare the field for play again.
When action resumed, Knickerbocker laced a two-run double to put BHS (18-3) up 2-0, and McCoy hit an RBI-single to make it 3-0.
The Wolverines wouldn’t score again until the top of the seventh inning after Pief settled in.
“He was throwing a lot off-speed. Throws that sidearm slider and they have a hard time sitting back on it,” BHS head coach Jonathon Qualls said. “They have a hard time letting it get to them, so everybody was out on their front foot.”
University did all of its offensive damage in the bottom of the third inning.
The Bulldogs started with a single, reached on the benefit of a BHS error, then hit consecutive doubles to tie the game at 3.
Qualls had to visit Knickerbocker on the mound after University took a 4-3 lead. Knickerbocker allowed one more single before a strikeout ended the inning.
Nothing rattled the Wolverine senior after that, though. He sat down nine of the next 12 batters before more hail forced another delay.
“That’s an indicator of a real good pitcher. Everybody’s going to have bad innings,” Qualls said. “The fact that he was able to come back and put together three or four good, solid innings, that’s hard to do, especially as a high school pitcher.”
There was concern that the game would be called during the second delay because it technically was official after five innings.
But CHSAA already had began to shuffle the rest of the tournament because of weather, so they waited it out until the game could be completed.
After Bayfield and University play Saturday, if they in fact do play, the rest of the final eight games could be played later in the day or pushed to Monday.
BHS has graduation Sunday, and its seniors will attend that regardless, but their season is far from over.
“Always rather keep fighting than go out with a loss,” McMenimen said.
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
