Grizzlies fall to Foxes

FORT COLLINS, Colo.--On Saturday night, the Grizzlies pounded out 12 runs on 16 hits. On Sunday evening, they couldn’t buy a hit.

Fort Collins Foxes’ starter Kory Kiro limited the Grizzlies to a single hit over seven innings of work
en route to an 8-1 Foxes victory at the Fox Den in Fort Collins.

On the night, Kiro allowed one run on one hit over seven frames. While he kept the Grizzlies from reaching on hits, he did allow three walks and hit three batters.

Despite recording just two hits in the game, the Foxes hit the ball hard with nine of their 27 outs being recorded by the Foxes’ outfielders.

“It didn’t show but I thought we swung the bats pretty well,” head coach Aaron Holley said. “Sometimes we just hit the ball right at people.”

Still, Cheyenne held a 1-0 lead until the bottom of the sixth inning.

At that point, The Foxes broke the game open, scoring all eight of their runs in the sixth and seventh innings, with several runs coming off of walks and two defensive errors.

“I think we walked four or five guys in those two innings,” Holley said. “Anytime you’re giving free bases to people, and not only that, but then compounding the mistake of a walk with an error, you’re going to give up runs.”

The Foxes’ half of the sixth began with a chopper that skipped off of the glove of third baseman Ryan Javech. Eddie Allen, the Foxes batter who reached on the error, came around to tie the game at 1-1 when Steven Keller drove the first pitch he saw to right-center field for an RBI double. Pitcher Willie Vizoso would walk the next batter before being relieved by Taylor Fallon. Fallon, however, walked two of his first three batters and allowed a bases-loaded triple before retiring the third out.

In the inning, the Grizzlies allowed five runs on two hits, with just one run being earned.

“We preach to our pitchers that, if you’re going to go out there and give up 10 hits I rather you do that then walk guys,” Holley said. “That at least means you’re throwing the ball in the zone and giving your defense a chance to play.

“Unfortunately, today, when we did give our defense to play they booted the ball around a little bit, but those walks will kill you. They’ll absolutely kill you.”

The seventh inning was much of the same. Fallon opened the inning with consecutive walks. Two batters later, the Foxes had two runners in scoring position and one out when Edder Morales grounded one to first baseman KC Judge. With Cody Bishop breaking from third, Judge threw home and caught Bishop in a rundown, but an errant throw by catcher Mike Hendricks allowed Bishop and Keller to score. The Foxes would score once more in the inning to widen their lead to 8-1.

Again, of the three runs, just one was earned.

The Grizzlies’ lone run came in the third inning when left fielder Andy Athans was hit by a pitch. Athans then stole both second and third base before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Javech.


Grizzlies’ starter Ryan Schwenn went three innings allowing three hits and no runs while striking out one batter and not allowing a walk. Jack Winters made his second appearance of the season, working the final five outs, surrendering two hits while striking out a pair.

Cheyenne returns to the field today (Monday) for a matchup against the Greeley Grays. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. in Greeley.

“I think we’re going to come out (Monday) and we’re going to throw strikes and we’re going to get back on track to where we need to be,” Holley said. “I’m not worried about it; none of the guys are worried about it. They fought hard; they kept swinging in the later innings even though we were down seven runs.”