Reid one-hits Grays

GREELEY, Colo.—Bryce Reid threw seven innings of one-hit ball and the offense exploded for eight runs on 11 hits Saturday night, giving the Grizzlies an 8-0 win over the Grays.

Reid had a no-hitter entering the sixth inning, but Greeley’s Artie Carrera led off the inning with a bloop single that fell into shallow right-center field to break up the no-hit bid.

“I felt amazing,” Reid said. “Before the game even started I knew I was going to do well. I felt great warming up.”

The Grizzlies quickly erased Carrera on a 6-3 double play two pitches later, however, and Reid finished the next two innings unscathed.

“I was a little disappointed they got a hit, but it didn’t faze me,” Reid said. “I just went back to work and kept doing what I was doing. I loved being on the mound tonight.”

Reid was able to work with the lead from the get go as Cheyenne put two runs across in the opening frame. Jose Jauregiu, the only spark of offense Friday night vs. Fort Collins was hit for the third time this season to get the inning started. K.C. Judge walked on four pitches and two batters later, third baseman Mike Lessig drove 1-2 pitch to left field, bringing home two runs.

“I got down two strikes and just tried to battle and put it in play,” Lessig said. “I saw a good pitch and was able to connect on it to bring two across.”

Lessig finished the night with three of Cheyenne’s 11 hits, also adding three RBI.

In the second inning, it was second baseman Mike Wido who put a run on the board when he belted a home run to left field, the team’s first homer of the season.

The 3-0 lead was more than enough for Reid to mow down Grays’ hitters.

While the lefty did walk five batters and hit two, he struck out seven and only allowed three outs to leave the infield.

“Bryce pitched fantastic,” head coach Aaron Holley said. “Even though he walked five, I think four of those were with two outs so that’s not going to kill you like it did to us (Friday). He kept them off-balanced all game.”

The defense flashed its leather all evening, turning two double plays and tracking down several hard hits to the outfield gaps. No play was bigger than Judge’s catch to end the third inning.

With two outs and nobody on, Grays' catcher Nate Goldstein drilled a 2-1 pitch to deep left field. Off the bat, it looked like it had a chance to leave the yard, but Judge played it perfectly, scaling the wall to take away at least extra bases.

“I really have to give credit to (center fielder Kevin) Logan,” Judge said. “He kept telling me I had room and that’s really the only reason I kept going. I took a good drop step to it, got around it and Logan told me three times, “you’ve got room.’ It probably would have hit the top of the fence.”

“I had great defense behind me,” Reid added. “The catch in left field was a phenomenal play. K.C. made a great catch there.”

Grays starter Logan Hall settled down after the first two frames, retiring 12 consecutive and 16 of the final 17 batters he faced. But the Grizzlies jumped on reliever C.J. Cannell in the eighth, scoring five insurance runs.

“You’re only up three going into the eighth,” Holley said, “thinking you’re going to have to use your closer to shut it down. When you can score late in innings, it pretty much just takes away and wind they might have in their cells of coming back. That was huge.”

Logan led off the inning with a walk, followed by four consecutive hits by Jauregiu, Judge, Mike Domenick and Lessig. Ryan Javech hit a sacrifice fly to score Domenick and a fielding error prolonged the inning and allowed one more run to come across.

Reliever Ryan Schwenn preserved the one-hitter by retiring all six batters he faced.

“That was the most complete game we’ve had thus far,” Holley said. “We did a good job of staying relaxed, playing our game, realizing what we can do well and playing to our strengths. This is definitely a confidence booster. I think we’re right back on track and we’re going to win a lot of games this year.”

The Grizzlies travel to Laramie to take on the Colts Sunday at 6:35 p.m.