Regis Jesuit edges Grandview, advances to Class 5A baseball championship rematch against Cherry Creek

LAKEWOOD As a freshman last year Michael Kroll hurt his elbow right before the season threw only one inning on junior varsity and didn t pitch at all in the summer after current the ring finger on his pitching hand Fast forward to Friday and the sophomore right-hander put an exclamation point on a breakout campaign throwing a complete competition to propel Regis Jesuit back into the Class A baseball championship Kroll outdueled Grandview ace Ethan Wachsmann as the Raiders beat the Wolves - at All-Star Park Kroll allowed one run on three hits while Wachsmann also allowed one run through five innings before being pulled after hitting his pitch limit The testament to Kroll is that he didn t even pitch very well in the present day and he gave up one run in a semifinal encounter Regis Jesuit head coach Matt Darr declared He was battling his command a little bit but he presented why he s one of our special arms He s grown in front of us this year The Raiders loaded the bases against Wachsmann in the first inning but the Wake Forest commit used his high- s fastball to get consecutive strikeouts to end the threat Wachsmann ended up with Ks a dominant effort that came to an end after he surpassed the -pitch count mark by hitting the leadoff batter of the sixth inning Grandview was up - at that point after senior outfielder Kyler Vaughn singled advanced to second stole third and scored on Kroll s wild pitch in the third inning But after Wachsmann exited Regis Jesuit saw its opening Senior right-hander Josiah Giron walked the first batter he faced then hit the second to load the bases with no outs After a flyout senior right-fielder Gavin Cronin perfectly executed a suicide squeeze bunt to tie the championship Then a two-out full-count walk by sophomore Diesel Bernosky made it - We realized Wachsmann wasn t pinpointing fastballs every pitch so we were taking first pitch the greater part of the event after the opening inning noted Cronin an Air Force Academy commit Every inning we were determined to keep taking good at-bats Even in particular of the strikeouts we had we ran the pitch count up which ended up being really fundamental at the end When I saw the bunt call I knew it was my time and I delivered We ve practiced that a ton but I haven t had a pressurized one like that The one-run lead was all Kroll needed as the sophomore used his combination of a mid- s fastball and mid- s slider to keep the Wolves off balance Kroll retired Grandview in order in the sixth and seventh innings to cement the win I ve been thinking about this championship all week especially after the injury issues I had last season Kroll announced After that inning where Grandview scored a switch flipped I was trying to do too much before that and I just settled in and trusted my stuff Regis Jesuit's Gavin Cronin hits a suicide squeeze against Grandview in the sixth inning during their Class A state baseball consolation semifinal at All-Star Park in Lakewood on Friday May Photo by Andy Cross The Denver Post In the morning match Regis Jesuit beat Broomfield - to advance to the semifinal Eagles senior left-hander Maverick Scarpella gave up five runs over three innings then senior right-hander Clayton Green allowed one run over the final four The Raiders faced a - deficit after two innings but then uncorked a five-run third Senior right-hander and North Greenville commit Luke Reasbeck threw a complete encounter for the Raiders with two earned runs At the plate junior Jacob Olson had two hits and two RBIs junior Deion Cesario-Scott blasted a solo homer and Cronin also had an RBI We needed that big third inning because that first inning or two it looked like we weren t ready to play Darr revealed That inning gave us a lot of momentum the rest of that contest and coming into this one against Grandview Regis Jesuit which lost twice on the final day last season to Cherry Creek as the Bruins captured their ninth state title now finds the shoe on the other foot This year Cherry Creek is in the driver s seat and will need to be beaten twice Saturday s first match is at a m with the second competition at p m if necessary The Bruins will have all of their pitchers available including star senior right-handers Wyatt Rudden Michigan commit and Ryan Falke Washington State Fellow senior right-hander Cael Knobbe a CSU-Pueblo pledge who turned in a dominating relief performance against Grandview in last weekend s winners-bracket semifinals is also fresh The Raiders still have a handful of arms left including junior right-hander and Vanderbilt commit Hudson Alpert Sophomore right-handers Ryan Neumann and Cade Filleman and junior left-hander Alexander Denny are also available as Regis Jesuit looks to pull off the upset for its fourth title Related Articles Cherry Creek baseball on doorstep of th state title after thumping rival Grandview in Class A semifinal Not done yet Broomfield baseball wins comeback thriller over Arvada West in A state tourney Fossil Ridge edges Castle View for Class A girls soccer title off late header by Teagan Myers Loveland Classical wins school s first championship and city s first girls soccer title with domination of Flatirons Academy Evergreen taps into championship mettle to claim Class A girls soccer title thriller Cherry Creek s beaten Regis Jesuit in close games twice this year The first was a - triumph on March in Greenwood Village and the second came last week in the second round of the state tournament when the Bruins rallied with two runs in the seventh to walk-off the Raiders - But Darr is confident his unit can get payback on Saturday at All-Star Park Our competitiveness was on display against Mountain Vista in the district championship and it s been on display this whole tournament Darr disclosed In the past I ve had very talented teams that weren t very competitive but this one might be more competitive than talent On a championship day like the following morning that may matter more Weird things have happened in sports Last year we weren t meant to win Maybe it s flipped this year Whoever wins the diamond will be stacked with recruits on two of the majority talented Colorado high school teams in latest memory There are college commits between both rosters including a dozen Division I players Cherry Creek has commits seven Division I and Regis Jesuit has nine commits five Division I Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams