2019 Baseball Season Concludes in Colby

2019 Baseball Season Concludes in Colby

The Red Raven Baseball Team traveled to Colby, Kansas to take on the Trojans in the first round of postseason. The sub-regional match up had the third seeded Trojans facing the 6th seeded Ravens in a best of three series.

Game one looked to be a solid match-up for both teams. Coffeyville would run their ace, Aaron Bechtel, out on the mound to take on Colby's ace, Logan Hoffman. Colby would strike first for one in the bottom of the first, but Coffeyville struck back for one with three singles by Trey McClelland, Noah Wallace, and Chase Freeman in the top of the third to put the game at a tie. The game would remain that way until Colby rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and would never look back. The Trojans would score twelve unanswered runs to run rule Coffeyville 13 to 1 in seven innings. A bright spot for game one was with Aaron Bechtel's fifth strikeout of the game he became Coffeyville's single season strikeout holder. He would conclude the year with 89.

Game two would be a win or go home for the Coffeyville Red Ravens. Jackson Blancarte had been a steady force on the bump all year long as he would toe the mound in this contest. However, the Ravens were punched early and often at the beginning of the game. Heading into the top of the fifth the Ravens were down 10-0 facing elimination. They would answer the call, scoring four runs in the fifth and 11 in the sixth behind two home runs from Blake Carrol, two home runs from Luis Mendoza, and a three run shot from Trey McClelland. Raymond Farrell entered the game in the third inning and provided a much needed steadiness from the bullpen. Farrell worked 4 1/3 innings and was able to get the ball to Matt Hunt for the two inning save. Hunt was spectacular against the Colby offense that had scored 27 runs in the first 14 innings of the series. Hunt saw 6 batters and sat all six down in order earning him his second save of the year. The final score was 17-14 with Coffeyville forcing a winner take all game three.

Thirty minutes after the crazy game two contest concluded both teams were ready to go to battle with their seasons on the line. Tucker Sparks got the ball for Coffeyville. Sparks had been rock solid all year for the Ravens, but did not have him best stuff on Saturday. Colby would strike for five runs in the bottom of the first inning. Coffeyville however, would have their own rally in the top of the second to respond by scoring 7 runs behind a three run homerun by Chase Freeman and capped off by Zac Freeman stealing third and home on the same play. Colby continued to punch and came back in the bottom of the second and put up another five spot to chase Sparks from the game. The game would continue to be back and forth until Colby's bullpen was able to get back to back zeros in the fourth and fifth innings against Coffeyville's offense. The game would finish at 22-12 and would mark the end of the 2019 season. The Coffeyville Red Ravens would finish their season at 29-27

A few records were set in Colby and with the conclusion of the 2019 season. A bright spot for game one was with Aaron Bechtel's fifth strikeout of the game he became Coffeyville's single season strikeout holder beating the record from 2018 by Gavin Heltemes. Bechtel would conclude the year with 89. Another record was set in this series on the final day, with Jorge Ortiz's 7th inning two run homerun the Red Ravens set the all-time home run record for a team with 39 home runs. The Ravens defense was spectcular all season long and finished fielding at a .970 clip which bests the 2012 record that was .962