Battle Mountain boys baseball bests Eagle Valley in doubleheader

A year removed from a 5-13 season, the Battle Mountain boys baseball team finds themselves on the cusp of a playoff berth.

“I think player for player, this is the most talented team Battle Mountain has ever put on the field,” head coach Jeff Townsend remarked after the Huskies swept a doubleheader against their I-70 rivals, Eagle Valley, on Tuesday in Edwards. Townsend and company have now defeated the Devils in their last three matchups. Before that, however, Eagle Valley had amassed an impressive 28-3 mark against Battle Mountain dating back to 2008.

“Our energy was up all game — this is our rivals, so we were excited to play this game,” said Blake Roberts, who threw 107 pitches in a complete game win to start the afternoon. Roberts leaned into his off-speed pitches, a tricky curveball and a hard-to-hit high fast ball to limit the Devils to eight hits and four runs in the 10-4 win.

“I felt good up there, coach kept me in and I came out with the win,” said Roberts, who also drove in a pair of runs at the plate. Jack Reed and Zach Irwin each collected two hits apiece as the Huskies used a seven-run second inning to pull away.

“I mean really, they just put streaks together. We hit the ball pretty well, they hit the ball well — the difference was their’s were in bunches and ours weren’t,” said Eagle Valley head coach Levi Rozga, whose young squad rallied late in both games. A fifth-inning hitting barrage in game two put a little scare into the home team.

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“We’re young, but I don’t feel like we’re under matched in any way,” Rozga continued. “Our older guys — the few we have — have really embraced younger guys and it’s been a good team atmosphere. So really, we don’t even think about it.”

Zach Irwin was on the mound for Battle Mountain in the second seven-inning affair. The senior struck out four in five innings of work and had just one earned run. He said he wasn’t too worried about the Devils’ comeback attempt.

“My pitching felt good,” Irwin said. “It was really just up to the defense to make those plays.” Cole Lewis came in for the final two innings for the save as the Huskies walked away with an 8-4 victory, their 10th of the season.

“Which is big for us,” said Townsend, who credited Roberts and Irwin for setting the team up for success. “Any time you can get the distance out of your starter, it helps a lot.”

Battle Mountain made its first playoff appearance in program history in 2022, the final year of the Harrison Stevens era. In Townsend’s first season at the helm, the Huskies went 6-17 before last year’s 5-13 campaign. In addition to the rivalry sweep, the Huskies have had a few other signature wins this spring, such as the 4-3 victory over No. 12-ranked Summit on April 16. He said the coaching staff’s focus on fundamentals and higher-level baseball IQ has raised the level of play on the field.

“When the kids come out and perform — with the talent they have – if they do that every game and come out with energy, it’s going to be tough for people to beat them,” Townsend said.

Irwin and Roberts also feel the team’s tighter connectivity is a big reason for the rise.

“I think we’ve all been playing together longer and better and gotten more chemistry,” Roberts said.

“I think our team’s improving a lot. Not just with skills but team chemistry,” added Irwin. “We’re starting to really find a groove together, we’re starting to click as a team, so it’s huge to get those wins against Eagle Valley.”

The Devils (7-12 overall, 2-6 league) wrap up the regular season against Glenwood Springs (14-5 overall, 6-2 league), which is trying to leapfrog Summit for the 4A Western Slope title.

“It’s a tough loss against your hometown rival,” Rozga stated after Tuesday’s losses. “But we still have two more conference games left and we can choose to go out on a bang and try to take a couple from a team trying to win the conference. Being a spoiler’s not a bad thing.”

Meanwhile, the No. 36 Huskies’ playoff hopes hinge on Saturday’s upcoming doubleheader at No. 33 Rifle.

“They’re always a well-coached team,” Townsend said. “Hopefully we come out with the energy from today and if we do, I think we’ll be in good shape.”