Houston demands the ball, Coal Ridge advances to 3A baseball title game

GREELEY – Coal Ridge baseball coach Dan Larsen had a tough decision to make, so John Luke Houston made it for him. The junior pitcher demanded the start against No. 1 seed University at Butch Butler Field.

It might have been a gamble, but Houston wanted to be in that position at that moment. And when he held the Bulldogs in check to get a 3-0 for the Titans, reality set in. Coal Ridge will play for the John Haefeli Class 3A state baseball title next Friday.

“I’ve always dreamed of being in a situation like this,” Houston said. “I just wanted to go get it for my guys.”

And his guys were there to get it for him. Houston went five innings, even though the original plan was for him to just go four, and gave up just five hits and walked one batter.

But there were two distinct zeros that stood out in his stat line. He surrendered zero runs (always preferred when trying to win a ballgame) and he struck out zero University hitters. He induced 15 outs.

“John throws ground balls,” Larsen said. “I don’t think he throws a straight fastball. It cuts or moves in either direction. Everything is going down to the bottom of the barrel.”

Which can be even more dangerous when working with a lead. The Titans (25-2-1 overall) got on the board in the top of the first on a Houston single that scored Ben Simons. Normally a reserved player, that 1-0 lead lit a fire into the Titans’ leader and the emotional high stayed with them through all seven innings.

“I’m not much of a vocal person,” Simons said. “But when I scored, I just up excited to try and get the team going and get the energy up.”

Houston ended the day going 3-for-3 with an RBI while Simons went 1-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. The Titans added two runs in the top of the third, but University pitcher Joel Ramirez settled in after that and kept Coal Ridge in check.

Kaden Turk went 2-for-3 while Preston Natividad, Medardo Abrego and Gage Viken all went 1-for-3. The Bulldogs (24-4) had two runners on with one out in the third and came away with nothing and also had two runners on with nobody out in the bottom of the sixth also to come away empty-handed.

With two outs, the Bulldogs mustered one last attempt to rally. Brody Duran singled with two outs and Will Korby walked to bring the tying run to the plate. But Logan Harlow, who relieved Houston in the sixth, induced a groundout that ended the game.

The Titans have two chances to win the 3A baseball title next week. Two games will determine who has to beat them twice on Saturday.

The first game will be Resurrection Christian vs. Montezuma-Cortez, a rematch of a first-round game from Friday. Rez beat TCA to stay alive and Cortez officially became the team to end Eaton’s run at a fifth straight state title as they beat the Reds 9-5 on Saturday. Eaton had previously lost to Coal Ridge in the 3A tournament.

“They beat a great team,” Cortez coach Jake Huff said of his squad. “That’s been a team that’s been great for how many years now, and been at the top of 3A. Our boys, they rose to the challenge.”

Sophomore Jaiden Istenes went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs in the win and is pumped to get a chance to return to Butch Butler next weekend.

“We just have to keep hitting and keep battling,” he said. “We know we can win. We’re pumped up.”

Montezuma-Cortez and Resurrection Christian will meet at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 30. The winner gets University on Friday and the winner of that game moves on to Saturday and has to beat Coal Ridge twice to win the state title.