The Yuma High School baseball team is closing out the regular season on a six-game homestand.
The Outlaws would love nothing more than being able to extend it to eight games.
Yuma entered this week 12-5 and No. 6 in the 2A CHSAA Seeding and Seeding Index. The top eight teams will host a four-team regional on May 16, with the winner of those advancing to the 2A double-elimination state tournament over the following two weekends in Pueblo.
The Outlaws hosted Highland, No. 7 in the Index, this past Tuesday for the 2A Lower Platte championship. It was another thriller, but Highland left town with a 7-5 win in eight innings, dropping Yuma to 12-6, and making their chances to host regional a bit more tenuous.
The Outlaws close out the regular season with a home doubleheader against Burlington on Saturday and then host Byers for a two on Tuesday. Both entered this week in the lower 20s in the 2A Index.
Yuma picked up a big win last Thursday at Limon, 11-3, then hosted 3A Bennett in an add-on game on Friday, losing a fun one 9-8 to the Tigers.
The split left the Outlaws still very much in the running for being a regional host.
Limon was in the running to host a regional when the Outlaws traveled there last Thursday. However, the Outlaws likely dashed those hopes while increasing their odds with an impressive win.
They quickly took control by scoring seven runs in their first two at-bats.
Two came in the first inning. Silas Baucke hit a double, followed by Jesus Rodriguez’s double that scored Tanner Himes, courtesy running for Baucke. Stevie Seward came on as a courtesy runner for Rodriguez, scoring on an error.
Yuma enjoyed a five-run two-out rally in the top of the second. Huwa got it going with a two-out single scoring Brodie Kallweit and Chris Wario. Baucke’s single scored Huwa, Himes scored on Rodriguez’s single, and Reyli Trejo followed with a double to score Seward.
Baucke ran into some issues on the hill in the bottom of the second as some walks and an error led to three Limon runs. However, that was the only hiccup for Baucke, who came one out away from the complete-game victory.
Christian Thomson led off the third with a single, and scored on Kallweit’s single.
Kallweit scored in the fifth on Wario’s single for a 9-3 lead.
Baucke launched a solo homer to centerer in the sixth. Rodriguez hit a double, and Seward scored as the courtesy runner on a wild pitch for the 11-3 final.
Baucke hit the pitch limit with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Jose Mario Ross came on to get the final out.
Baucke struck out seven and walked four, scattering seven hits over 6-2/3 innings for the win.
The senior also had a homer and a double among this three hits, with two RBI and one run. Rodriguez had two doubles among his three hits with two RBI, Huwa three hits, two RBI and one run, Kallweit three hits, one RBI and two runs, Trejo a one-run double, Thomson one hit and one run, Wario one hit, one RBI and one run, and Himes and Seward scored runs.
Yuma recently added Bennett to its schedule, hosting the Tigers on Friday.
The Outlaws’ first four runs came off of landmark homers — Kallweit’s solo shot to center in second was the freshman’s first in a varsity game, as was junior Trejo’s three-run blast to left in the the third.
However, the top of the third proved to be too much to overcome as Bennett plated five runs for a 7-1 lead before Trejo’s dinger.
Bennett scored two more in the fourth for a 9-4 lead.
However, the Outlaws showed their resiliency by battling back. They got three runs in the sixth. Seward led off with a single and scored on Baucke’s single. Marvin Duarte, who had singled, scored on a bases loaded walk, and Huwa scored on Alex Pensado’s sacrifice fly to right, pulling the Outlaws to within two, 9-7.
They got another run in the bottom of the seventh as Duarte singled and scored on Rodriguez’s sacrifice fly to center. Huwa represented the tying run at second when the game ended on an infield popup.
Trejo kept the Outlaws in the game with a strong four innings on the hill after coming on in the fourth. He struck out three, walked two and scattered five hits over four innings, allowing two earned runs. Kallweit went the first three frames, striking out two, walking one, allowing eight hits and seven runs, six earned.
Trejo had the three-run homer, four RBI and one run, Kallweit the solo homer, Baucke three hits, one RBI and one run, Duarte two hits and two runs, Huwa one hit and one run, Rodriguez one hit and one RBI, Pensado one hit and one RBI, Thomson one hit, and Seward one hit and one run.
The Outlaws welcomed Highland to town Tuesday for a game rescheduled from earlier this season.
The league championship was on the line, but Yuma again played from behind the whole game.
Highland took an early 2-0 lead, but Yuma battled back to tie it. The Huskies scored three runs on two homers in the fifth for a 5-2 lead. The Outlaws again responded, getting to within 5-4 in the sixth.
Highland left a runner stranded at third in the top of the seventh. Baucke drew a two-out walk in the home half. Rodriguez followed with a deep shot to left that might have carried out on a nicer day. Instead the ball hit at the bottom of the fence. Ross, courtesy running for Baucke, scored from first, and Rodriguez cruised into third for a triple. A strikeout left courtesy runner Seward stranded at third, sending the game into extra innings.
Highland scored two in the top of the eighth, and Yuma could not respond.
Baucke and the Highland starter both had great outings but neither got the decision. Both teams struck out 15 times.