The Durango High School baseball team fell to 5A/4A Southwestern League foe Montrose twice on Friday at DHS. After Montrose won the first game 14-4 in six innings, the Demons took an early lead in Game 2, but Montrose came back for a 7-3 win.
“We got beat pretty good, but they come out and keep battling,” said DHS head coach Rob Coddington. “You’ve got to credit those guys.”
In the first game, Montrose only had five base hits, but errors helped the Indians on offense.
“They capitalized on some mistakes and were able to get to us,” Coddington said.
DHS took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but Montrose scored four in the second. The Demons responded with another run in the bottom of the second, but MHS plated four in the fourth and three in both the fifth and sixth innings to win.
In Game 2, Durango began with five quality at bats. Lead-off hitter Michael Benner singled to start the game. Ian Szura followed with a single, then Jordan Stanley smacked a base hit to bring Benner home. Gavin Hamlin brought Szura home with an RBI ground-out. Then Liam Southerland hit an RBI single to score Stanley and give DHS a 3-0 lead. Montrose, however, got out of the inning with a double play.
MHS responded with two quick runs in the bottom of the first. Hamlin then made a diving stop at third to get the lead runner. With the bases loaded, catcher Matt Pane chased down a ball that got by him and connected with pitcher Tagert Bardin, who tagged out an Indian sliding into home.
Bardin didn’t give up a run in the second or third innings. In the fourth, however, an errant throw on a bunt helped an MHS runner score all the way from first to tie the game while the bunter reached third. A wild pitch, a ball called fair after it hit the ref and a double helped MHS take a 5-3 lead. Benner made a diving stop at shortstop and threw out the runner while Szura caught a line drive at second base to end the inning. JJ Hoerl relieved Bardin and retired three of the first four hitters he faced in the inning.
Tanner Coddington singled to start the fifth and advanced to second on a Hoerl sacrifice bunt, but two fly-outs left him stranded in scoring position.
After MHS scored one in the fifth, Stanley singled to start the top of the sixth. Stanley took off trying to steal second, but Hamlin lined out on the play, and Montrose turned a double play.
MHS loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the sixth, but Hoerl was able to strike out a pair to get out of the inning only allowing one run.
Brady Hansen singled to start the seventh, but the next three Demons went down swinging to end the game.
Seniors Stanley, Pane, Cass Maloney, Devin Davidovich and Chase Robertson were also honored on Friday.
“It’s a great group of guys,” coach Coddington said. The seniors had their sophomore season canceled because of COVID, then played a shortened season last year, but the coach said played a lot of ball in the summers when they were allowed to.
“I appreciate those seniors hanging with it for four years,” Coddington said. “There’s a lot of good teammates there, for sure.”
The coach, however, also said he needs to do a better to preparing the team so they’re more competitive next year.
The Demons (3-16, 1-4 SWL) will next host Pagosa Springs (6-12, 2-4 Intermountain) at 3 p.m. Tuesday. Montrose (13-5, 5-1), meanwhile, will play a doubleheader at Fruita Monument (12-6, 4-0) Tuesday with first place in the league on the line.
