Regis Jesuit baseball ends championship disappointment, win Class 5A state title

LAKEWOOD — The 6-hour roller coaster of a day on the baseball diamond ended the way Regis Jesuit has been planning it over the past three seasons … lifting the Class 5A state trophy.

The Raiders captured its fourth overall state baseball title and first since 2019 with a 5-3 victory over Arvada West in a winner-take-all game late Saturday afternoon at Keli McGregor Field at Blue Sky All-Star Park.

“Unbelievable. Unbelievable,” Regis senior Carter Rathbun said of the Raiders ending a 4-game losing streak in 5A state championship games.

In 2024, Regis was in the driver’s seat going 3-0 in the first week of the double-elimination state tournament. However, Cherry Creek defeated the Raiders twice to steal the title. Last season, Cherry Creek defeated Regis 8-1 in the title game.

It might have felt like deja vu when A-West grabbed a 3-2 victory in the morning game Saturday to push the losing streak to four straight games in state championship games, setting up a winner-take-all second game.

Regis (23-7 record) was able to calm the nerves after a 5-run bottom of the first inning in the title game. The Raiders touched up A-West starting pitcher Cole Eisenreich for five runs on three hits, while taking advantage of four walks. The big blow was a 3-run double by Rathbun.

“We faced him (Eisenreich) before in the semifinal last week and I knew he threw all curveballs,” Rathbun said. “The first two pitches he missed them up. I felt like he would then go fastball. I got the pitch I was looking for. It worked out.”

Rathbun would come around to score on a wild pitch to give the Raiders a 5-0 lead after the first inning.

A-West’s one-two starting pitching tandem of senior Brayden Reiner and junior Cooper Vais had both pitched complete-game victories to get the Wildcats into the final game against Regis. Reiner on the mound in a 2-1 victory over Pine Creek on Friday. Vais pitched the morning game against Regis for a 3-2 win.

“I told our guys before the game, and no disrespect to Arvada West, but they hadn’t won a game all year without Vais or Reiner throwing,” Regis coach Matt Darr said. “I told them A-West was going to have to do something against us, a good hitting team that they hadn’t done all year. I think that made them believe. That was key.”

Reiner and Vais combined for 24 victories on the mound with both having ERAs below 1.0 this season. Last season, the two combined for 16 wins on the mound.

A-West freshman Jake Richards and senior Beau Friesen both came in on the mound for the Wildcats in relief. Regis actually didn’t score after the first inning, but Raider junior pitcher Michael Kroll threw four shutout innings before a lightning delay that lasted nearly 90 minutes before the start of the fifth inning brought the game to a halt.

“The only thing with the (lightning) delay was it gave us time to think,” Darr said. “The gravity of the moment. Oh crap. We are nine outs away from winning this thing. We got through it.”

A-West plated three runs in the top of the fifth inning with an RBI single by Vais and RBI double by senior Levi Lueck to cut the Regis lead to 5-3. Junior Cade Filleman gave up the three runs in his first inning of work, but kept A-West off the scoreboard in the sixth and seventh.

“I just had to get out there and throw strikes,” Filleman said of pitching the final three innings to pick up the save. “Pitching with the lead, I just couldn’t let them get back into it.”

The Wildcats got a 2-out rally going in the seventh inning. Friesen and senior Luke Alonso hit back-to-back singles to bring the led run to the plate, but Lueck lined out to right field to end the game.

“My brother played in the games two years ago and I was able to play with him in the last one last year,” Filleman said of the Raiders’ back-to-back state runner-ups in 2024 and 2025. “I’ve been able to watch the past two years losing on the same stage. It feels great to get it done.”

It was A-West’s first trip back to the state championship game since being the 5A state runner-up in 1995.

“I’m just super proud of these guys,” A-West coach Danny Vais said. “If you would have said five years ago that Arvada West would be back in this position … it all the credit to the kids and how hard they work.”

A-West graduates 15 seniors, but Vais — one of the top products in the state who has already verbally committed to the University of Texas — will be back for his senior year.

“We’ll definitely hit the weight room for sure,” Vais said about his preparation for next season. “We need to continue to work on our skills. We have a young group coming up. It is a good young group, but we need to get them ready for the varsity experience.”

The Wildcats have a 49-9-1 record over the past two seasons that include back-to-back 5A Jeffco League titles.

“I trust this coaching staff. We have a hell of a coaching staff,” Vais said. “They will get us prepared for anything. And like my Dad just said, ‘The standard is the standard.’ Our expectation is go to the state championship, make a good run and hopefully win it next year.”