Arvada West baseball strikes first as 5A Jeffco League title defense begins

ARVADA — One of the best cross-town rivalries was electric on the baseball diamond Thursday at Arvada West High School, and it wasn’t just because of the 45-minute lightning delay.

A-West officially started its defense of the Class 5A Jeffco League title with a 10-5 victory over rival Ralston Valley. A lightning delay turned the game into a 3-hour and 30-minute battle that concluded with just enough light shortly after 7:30 p.m.

“We usually play these guys at the end of the year, but it’s nice to come out here and beat them to have some good momentum pushing forward into league,” A-West senior Brayden Reiner said. “(Ralston Valley) and Valor are probably going to be our best competition in league.”

Reiner got the offense started with a triple off Ralston Valley junior starting pitcher Jake Watts in the bottom of the first inning. The Wildcats (9-2 record, 1-0 in league) would plate three runs in the first inning to grab an early lead.

“My approach was to attack the fastball early,” Reiner said of his leadoff triple that started off a 3-for-5 day at the plate. “I just took the ball the other way because he threw it away.”

Ralston Valley (7-4, 0-1) battled back after the rough start. The Mustangs took full advantage of a pair of errors behind A-West starting pitcher Cooper Vais in the top of the third inning. A single by junior Kaiden Henson and the ensuing error by the centerfielder scored a pair of runs before the game went into a 45-minute lightning delay.

An RBI sacrifice fly by senior Jake Walters tied the game at 3-3 coming out of the delay. However, Vais was able to get a strikeout to end the inning with a pair of Mustangs on base.

“If that is the worst Cooper is going to be, we’ll be alright,” A-West coach Danny Vais said of his son giving up three runs (none earned) off of three hits in three innings of work. “It’s two rivals and two top-5 teams in the state.”

A-West answered back right away with a 4-run bottom of the third inning to take a 7-3 lead. Jeramiah Gonzales, Keegan Millikan and Reiner all had RBI singles as the Wildcats took advantage of a trio of walks in the inning.

“It’s a good team,” Ralston Valley coach Brad Madden said. “It’s hard to hold them down. I thought Jake did a good job. He walked a few too many guys and that hurt us in the end.”

With a 4-run lead, A-West senior Luke Alonso took over on the mound to start the fourth inning. The only damage Alonso allowed in three innings on the hill was a 2-run home run by Ralston Valley junior Brayden Gillest in the fifth inning.

“I was just coming in trying to get us into a spot where we needed to be,” Alonso said taking over on the hill. “Cooper didn’t have his best stuff today, but he still battled. He did a nice job. I was just trying to get it to the next guy.”

The next guy happened to be the hard-throwing righty Beau Friesen. The senior struck out all three batters he faced in the top of the seventh inning with daylight waning to close out the victory for the Wildcats.

A-West and Ralston Valley will complete the 2-game conference series Saturday, April 11, at Ralston Valley High School. First-pitch is slated for 11 a.m.

“I’m geared up for that game on Saturday,” said Reiner, who is scheduled to get the start on the mound. “I only threw 30 pitches our previous game earlier this week. The arm felt great today. I just want to attack them and see what I can do on the mound out there.”

A-West went a perfect 12-0 in conference play a season ago with the Wildcats claiming their first baseball league title since 2014.

“From a baseball purist type person, that is the way you find out who the best teams are by playing them back-to-back,” Coach Vais said of the second year of 5A Jeffco teams playing a 2-game series over three days. “You find out how deep your pitching is and as a hitting group being about to make adjustments.”

Vais and Madden said that are both fans of the 2-game series format.

“You’ll see throughout the league play a lot of splits when you have a lot of good teams,” Madden said of the league format. “That is what we are going to try to find a way to a split (Saturday).”

After the second go-around between A-West and Ralston Valley on Saturday, the Wildcats continue league play next week with a 2-game series against Bear Creek (6-3). The Bears had a bye for the first round of conference play.

Ralston Valley faces Lakewood (2-9, 0-1) twice next week.

“It’s kind of nice that this one was early,” Madden said of facing the defending 5A Jeffco champs right out of the box. “You see where you are at and what we need to do to get better against a really good team.”