PUEBLO – One thing was made crystal clear at the Class 2A state baseball tournament Friday – Forge Christian is the real deal.
The top-seeded Fury claimed two solid wins in the opening day of the tourney over Monte Vista (10-5) and Highland (9-1) at Hobbs Field at the Runyon Sports Complex.
“That’s huge,” Forge Christian coach Jim Polson said about his team’s two victories. “To give ourselves a chance we had to win two (Friday). What we talk about is what’s important now…each and every day one day at a time we will get after it.”
Top-seeded Forge Christian (23-4) moves on to face Platte Valley (18-9) in the semifinal at 2 p.m. Saturday. No. 7-seeded Platte Valley had a pair of upsets Friday afternoon defeating No. 2-seeded Dayspring Christian Academy (4-1) and No. 3 Fowler (2-1).
Platte Valley beat Forge Christian 2-0 on May 9.
Fowler, meanwhile, upended reigning two-time defending 2A state champion Denver Christian 2-0 in its opening game.
“(Saturday) we have to have the same approach and come out with a lot of energy,” Polson said. “The other team (Platte Valley) is going to be confident as well and we just have to play good baseball.”
Highland (20-7) dropped into the consolation bracket of the eight-team double-elimination tournament. The Huskies, the No. 5-seed, blanked No. 4-seeded Peyton 3-0 in their first game.
Highland took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning on Sawyer Morgan’s RBI-double against Forge.
Then, the Fury took control in the bottom of the third, erupting for five runs.
Brock Wycoff cracked a two-run double to put Forge up 2-1. Moments later, Easton Wilde scored on a wild pitch by John Bingley.
Sullivan Strange and Burke Jasa capped the frame with RBI singles to push the Fury ahead 5-1.
The Fury kept its momentum going in the bottom of the fourth, stretching their lead to 7-1 on a deep double to right field by Ben McLean. Jonah Boykin crushed an RBI triple in the fifth and the Fury also took advantage of a Highland error in the inning to go up 9-1.
That was more than enough support for Jasa on the mound. He fired six innings, allowing just one earned run on six hits and struck out six. He also had no walks.
The 6-foot-6, 220-pound senior was happy about his team’s performance on Friday.
“I thought we did really well,” said Jasa, who will be playing baseball at Southeast Community College in Beatrice, Neb., in the fall. “We just went out there and did what we knew how to do and left the rest up to the Lord.
“My fastball was working. I was going out there and throwing strike one and getting ahead and letting my defense work. We need to keep knowing what we know how to do (Saturday), see the ball, hit the ball hard and go out and play good defense.”
Forge Christian, formerly known as Faith Christian until the fall of 2023, has won three baseball state championships in 2007, 2011 and 2016, all in 3A.
