Dayspring Christian’s campaign in the Class 2A state baseball tournament started well enough Friday at the Runyon Field Sports Complex in Pueblo.
The Eagles weren’t quite able to sustain that early momentum, however, as they merely broke even during the first day of the double-elimination state tournament.
Dayspring, seeded 11th out of 32 original 2A postseason teams, upset No. 3 Las Animas 11-3 in the opening round at Tony Andenucio Field.
The momentum completely shifted in the second round, as the Eagles fell to No. 2 Denver Christian 11-2.
With that loss, Dayspring saw a 12-game, late-season win streak come to an end.
The Eagles won’t have much time to regroup.
Their season will be on the line in a second-round consolation game at noon Saturday at Hobbs Field. They’ll face whichever team prevails in a 9:30 a.m. game between No. 8 Buena Vista (17-7) and No. 13 Swink (17-8).
The winner of that second-round consolation game will be one of four teams that advance to next weekend’s final weekend of the tournament.
Dayspring erased an early 3-0 deficit in the first-round win against Las Animas (23-3). The Eagles scored two runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth, part of an 11-0 run to close the game.
The Eagles junior trio of Josiah Rodriguez, Peyton Coleman and Sawyer Klein had two RBI apiece. Four Dayspring players had multiple hits.
Junior pitcher Logan Vaniddekinge pitched all seven innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits, striking out 10 and walking two.
Dayspring fell behind 5-0 in the second game against Denver Christian (22-4) and could never quite muster the offense needed to come back.
— Bobby Fernandez covers high school sports for the Greeley Tribune. Reach him at (970) 392-4478, by email at bfernandez@greeleytribune.com or on X @BobbyDFernandez.
