The Erie baseball team played a doubleheader on Tuesday, May 14th, against the Mead Mavericks at Mead High School. The games were both at Mead due to previously scheduled times being pushed back because of weather. They played their first game at 2:00 and then their second one at 4:00. They fought to win both in order to try to clinch a spot in the regional round of the 4A playoffs.

They won their first game of the afternoon 1-0. It was a relatively slow game with Erie scoring the only run of the whole game on a walk off hit from Brandon Hewell in the bottom of the seventh. Jon Thoren pitched magnificently, striking out 12 batters in a shutout. Erie was the “home team” the first game, and Mead was home the second, but that did not affect them as they started of the second game by scoring 3 runs in the top of the first inning. They ended up scoring one more in the fifth inning to win the second game 4-0.

    After they won both of their games on Tuesday, they moved up to 25th in the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), which determines the playoff field. That earned them the 25th overall seed in the playoffs, and the 7th seed in Quadrant A. For baseball, the regional round is two games of single elimination followed by an eight team double elimination bracket to determine the state champion.

They played their first playoff game last Saturday at 10:00. They started off regional play by taking on the regional host, Abraham Lincoln, and defeated the Lancers 9-4. They went on to play Mountain View, where timely hitting delivered them to an 8-5 win.

That win earned them a spot in the state playoffs, where they will join Pueblo West, Holy Family, Cheyenne Mountain, Fort Morgan, Wheat Ridge, Golden, and Silver Creek in a battle for the state title.

Erie is the lowest seed from any quadrant and the lowest overall seed to make the Final 8.

Erie’s will look to continue their playoff run against Pueblo West at Vibes Stadium at 9:30 AM on Friday. All 4A games will be played in Colorado Springs and will be hosted by the Rocky Mountain Vibes, the rookie league affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, or the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS).

HERE is a link to the full bracket.