craigdailypress.com

The Moffat County High School varsity baseball team started the season on the wrong foot but bounced back to win the final two games at the Fort Morgan Invite.

Pitching problems doomed the Bulldogs in Friday's opening-rounding matchup with Denver's Faith Christian, led by the state's top 3A hurler, Hudson Beasley.

"We made a couple of mistakes in the field and on the basepaths, but for the most part our hitting and fielding was good in that game," coach Scott Parker said. "We walked seven batters and hit three, and you can't give a good team that many free bases."

The Bulldogs collected 12 hits off Beasley, nearly matching Faith Christian's 13 hits. But the Bulldogs allowed 26 men on base and lost ,19-6.

"We hit him hard, but we could never stop the bleeding on the hill," Parker said.

Senior Jared Lowther hit a solo home run in the third inning and junior Reid Hanneman added a 3-run shot in the fourth. Hanneman was 4-for-4 with a double.

Eric Griffin started for the Bulldogs and Josh Satterwhite and Kyle Sorensen made relief appearances.

The Bulldogs played a second game on Friday and Parker said the team showed no ill effects from the loss.

"I like this team," Parker said. They play well together and bounced right back from the loss in the first game. We jumped on Fort Morgan early -- they made a charge at us in the last inning, but we held on and got the win."

Bryan Wojtkiewicz took the mound for the Bulldogs and gave up one hit and two runs in six innings and struck out six. The Bulldogs won 7-4 behind homers from Lowther, Brian Richards and Hanneman, who drove in four runs. Fort Morgan had beaten Faith Christian earlier in the day.

"Brian threw a real nice game," Parker said. "He kept the ball low."

Wojtkiewicz returned to the hill for the seventh and got in a jam. He allowed two runs on two hits, but Jared Lowther stepped in and shut the door.

At that point, the Bulldogs were tied with Faith Christian and Fort Morgan for first on their side of the bracket because each team had split the first two games.

But Moffat County didn't advance to the championship round on a tie-breaker because they allowed the most runs.

On Saturday the Bulldogs beat Denver Lutheran, a top-10 3A team, 18-3. Brian Richards started and threw four shutout innings with six strikeouts. He only gave up one hit. The game went five innings because of the lopsided score.

Plenty of Bulldogs enjoyed a good day at the plate. Lowther went 2-for-5 with a double, Brian Behrman went 1-for-4 with a double, Richards went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI and Hanneman was 1-for-2 with a double.

Wojtkiewicz ended up 3-for-3 with a double and four RBI, Korey Kostur was 1-for-2 with two RBI and Josh Satterwhite collected two RBI on one hit. Brad Grinstead was 2-for-2 with two doubles and three RBI and Kyle Sorensen finished 2-for-3 with one RBI.

"We hit the ball well, and that's something we focused on this week," Parker said.

"We didn't hit the ball well in a scrimmage down in Junction. The whole game is pitching. When you get stellar performances on the hill, you're going to win some games."

They'll have a final tuneup against nonleague competition Tuesday before taking on the defending league champs Delta to start Western Slope League play. The Bulldogs will play Cortez in Grand Junction.