Viken thrives as University advances to 3A baseball semis

GREELEY – A year ago, a crafty sophomore came out of the bullpen to steady University in its effort to get to the Class 3A baseball semifinal.

This year, Gage Viken, now a steady junior, wanted the ball from the start. And he showed why.

Viken threw a complete game, giving up just three hits and one earned run, all while striking out nine hitters to lead the Bulldogs to a 5-2 win over Resurrection Christian. The Bulldogs return to Butch Butler on Friday to take on Coal Ridge, who beat Delta to start the day then handed Eaton its first loss in the 3A state tournament since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I love it,” Viken said. “I feel like I’m better under pressure than I am not. Earlier this year against Coal Ridge and against Rez, I feel like I went in there and I did what I needed it to do.”

A good start was crucial for the Bulldogs (24-3 overall) as they had some time to kill after beating Valley 5-4 in the first game of the day. Rez found itself in a tough battle with Montezuma-Cortez, ultimately getting a 1-0 win thanks to a Charley Wilson RBI-single tat scored Vincent Fuller.

When the Cougars (18-9) took the field, it was Vaughn Green with the ball in his hand, making things all the more difficult for the Bulldogs.

“Vaughn Green is a one-man wrecking crew,” University coach Casey Miller said. “I mean that as the ultimate compliment. They ride him, in a good way, and those boys play their butts off for him.”

And the Bulldogs got three runs off him in the bottom of the first, two of which were thanks to a little flare 2-RBI single from Viken.

“It’s just a little blooper,” he said with a smile.

A three-run lead can be a pitcher’s best friend, although University was not without its field struggles in the game, committing three errors in the first three innings of the game.

“That hasn’t happened in a long time,” Miller said. “We made a little adjustment in the middle innings with our defensive alignment and that seemed to help.”

A Maddox Sessions ground ball got the Cougars on the board in the top of the second as Preston Natividad forced his throw to first base, allowing Colton Barber to score. A Braedyn Budd triple scored Brayden MacAlmon to make it 3-2, but the Bulldogs score two in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of reach.

University faces a Coal Ridge team that ended an impressive run at the 3A state tournament. The Titans beat Eaton 8-0 to make the semifinal, giving the Reds their first loss in the state tournament since losing 2-1 to Lutheran on May 31, 2019.

Since then, the world went through a pandemic and coming out of it, Eaton claimed four straight 3A baseball titles.

Ben Simons threw seven innings against Eaton and will be unavailable to pitch on Saturday. But he’ll still be a big factor in the game.

“He can hit the ball and he can pitch,” Viken said. “He’s really good.”

University still has Joel Ramirez and some pitches with Will Korby should the Bulldogs need them.

Valley will meet Montezuma-Cortez in the first elimination game at Butch Butler Saturday with the winner facing Eaton.

At University, Delta will face TCA with the loser going home and the winner facing Rez to try and advance to next weekend.

It was announced during the day on Friday that game times on Saturday have been moved up a half hour to try and beat potential incoming weather. The first games at each site will begin at 9 a.m. with the later games now going at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.