The Durango High School baseball team showed its pitching depth on Tuesday in its 8-2 win over Bayfield.
Six pitchers took the mound for the Demons and the Wolverines couldn’t find a rhythm at the plate. When some Bayfield batters did connect, Durango’s fielding limited the damage.
Meanwhile, Durango consistently got on base, scoring in five of the six innings they hit in to pull away from Bayfield.
“It was solid,” Durango head coach Masen Hibbeler said. “We did exactly what we expected to do. We came in, handled business and we’re starting to catch our groove as we head to the end of the regular season. This was another day at the ballpark.
Durango improved to 11-4 overall and has won nine of its last 10 games. It’s the most wins in a season since Durango went 14-3 overall in 2021.
Senior Ethan White led the Demons with two hits. Junior Dawson McInnes had two RBIs and a home run.
The Demons started the day with senior Jack Englund on the mound and sophomore Coen Anderson, junior Dawson McInnes, junior Austin Romero, junior Sam Clark and freshman Cole Clark each pitched on Tuesday for Durango.
“Tuesday is our bullpen day,” Hibbeler said. “We usually throw our bullpen today. They’re on a 20 pitch max and all the pitchers did their job and handled it. We got our guys in and got ready for the weekend.”
Bayfield fell to 4-9 overall and has played some tough competition, with two games against Montrose before Tuesday afternoon’s matchup with the Demons.
“We played a really good 4A team tough today,” Bayfield head coach Robert Miller said. “A few little mistakes didn’t go our way, they did some right things and that’s what beat us.”
Sophomore Cameron Queen, senior Noah Anderson, junior Tavian Box and junior Tristan Bennett each had hits for the Wolverines. Bennett pitched four innings for Bayfield and allowed five hits. Senior Micah Cornelia also pitched an inning; he allowed two hits and threw a strikeout.
The teams were tied 1-1 after the second inning; Englund struck out two batters to start the second inning. Box grounded out to end the inning for Bayfield.
Durango scored two runs in the bottom of the third. The Demons got numerous runners on base and were smart, tagged up and found their way home.
McInnes had the rare pleasure of catching all three outs in the top of the fourth. Three pop flies went toward McInnes at first base and he caught all three.
Durango scored another run in the bottom of the fourth thanks to McInnes. He homered to left center for a 4-1 lead.
Romero stepped onto the mound at the start of the fifth with the Demons up 4-1. Bayfield got on base after a bunt that couldn’t be recovered in time. The Demons bounced back with a great play by Cole Clark at third base. He gathered a grounder and threw to second for an out. The Demons were inches away from a double play but the throw was a smidgen too high.
Junior Dylan Burns got on base first to start the bottom of the fifth and then advanced to second. Cole Clark had a great hit, allowing Burns to come home for a 5-1 lead. Bayfield then made a pitching change from Bennett to Cornelia, with Cornelia finishing the inning strong with no runs allowed.
“Our goal was to get Tristan (Bennett) through the lineup a couple of times,” Miller said. “He executed that and on to the next pitcher. We’ve got a lot of baseball coming up this week, so we’re just trying to figure out what arms are going to get us through the games.”
The Demons went to Cole Clark at the top of the sixth. He allowed three hits early and the Wolverines had bases loaded with no outs.
Durango responded with a double play on a grounder, but Cornelia got home to make it a 5-2 game. The Demons escaped the inning, only giving up one run.
Senior Cully Feeney scored for Durango after sophomore Grady Feeney had a nice hit that turned into a double for him. The Demons really started pouring it on, with two hits after Grady Feeney’s, bringing Grady Feeney home.
McInnes stepped on the mound to finish the game at the start of the seventh. A pop fly to junior Landin Padilla finished the game.
Durango plays at Fruita Monument on Friday at 4 p.m. The Wildcats are first place in the league.
Bayfield plays at San Juan on Thursday at 3 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
