GREELEY – Thursday night, University baseball coach Casey Miller did what any coach this day in age does the night before a state tournament elimination game.

He scrolled through TikTok.

But in the process, he came across a post that resonated with how he wanted his team to approach this weekend.

“I sent the boys a TikTok from Jason Kelce’s speech after the [Philadelphia] Eagles won the Super Bowl,” Miller said. “He was talking about how the o-line was underdogs and the whole team was underdogs. An underdog is a hungry dog, so the boys came hunting.”

The Bulldogs (25-4 overall) scored three runs in the first inning and Will Korby was efficient on the mound as University beat Resurrection Christian 4-1 to advance to the John Haefeli Class 3A baseball state championship game. They’ll face Coal Ridge at 10 a.m. Saturday at Butch Butler Field. In order to win the state title, University needs to beat Coal Ridge twice while the Titans just need one win in two games.

But to be in that position, University had to beat Rez Christian for a second time in six days.

“What we needed to do today was to minimize runs and [Korby] did just that,” Miller said. “Holding that lineup to one run is pretty damn good.”

Korby went seven innings, giving up just three hits and allowing one unearned run. He didn’t blow the Cougars (20-10) away by any means, striking out just two hitters all game, but he induced outs and relied on his defense to do its job.

“I just let the dogs play behind me,” Korby said. “They got the job done for me.”

Korby started the rally in the bottom of the third with a one-out single which moved Kaden Turk over to second. Damian Alvarez drove in Turk on a line drive to left to get University on the board. Graham Riggs walked Medardo Abrego with the bases loaded which scored Isaac Dellinger (wo was courtesy running for Korby). Gage Viken then grounded into a a fielders choice that scored Alvarez.

The Cougars responded with their one run in the top of the second on a Vaughn Green sacrifice fly that scored Carter MacAlmon. But that was the only offense Korby had any interest in allowing.

“They ended my football season,” Korby said of Rez. “I had some bad blood and I wanted to get them so bad. I didn’t want that to happen again and it’s a great feeling for sure.”

Green had pitched the Cougars into the game against University as he kept Montezuma-Cortez in check. The Cougars won the day’s matinee 10-2, setting up the de facto semifinal game against the Bulldogs.

Now University finds itself in a familiar spot with an unfamiliar opponent. This is fourth consecutive state championship appearance for the Bulldogs. The last three all ended with losses to Eaton.

But the Reds are home for the summer and it’s Coal Ridge and its standout pitcher Ben Simons that are standing in the way of University’s first state title since 2019.

Last week’s loss to the Titans was disheartening, but University is putting that loss in the rear view mirror and is excited to get back to the Butch to compete for a state championship.

“We have to be unselfish and we have to come to the yard prepared to tomorrow,” Miller said.

And they’ll keep in mind that an underdog is a hungry dog.

(Dan Mohrmann/ColoradoPreps.com)