Much like last season, the Summit High School boys baseball team has grown red-hot at the tail end of the regular season.

A year ago, the Summit boys baseball team closed the regular season with 12 straight victories in order to make the Class 4A playoffs, and this season the team is well on its way to rivaling that streak. Since taking its spring break team trip to Utah and Idaho, Summit has won six straight games and has a chance to close out the regular season with 11 straight wins.

After arriving back in Colorado from Idaho, Summit traveled to Glenwood Springs on April 27, where the team was able to get its biggest win of the season. Summit dominated the Glenwood Springs Demons from basically the first inning of the game, but the team’s bats took off after the second inning especially.

Summit scored three runs in the third inning, four in the fifth and sealed the game with an eight-run sixth inning. Due to the team’s superb hitting, the Tigers took a commanding 20-3 win. Seniors Will Koll, Jack Schierholz, Cassius Bradford and Corey Cooper all produced three hits for the team in the win, and freshman pitcher Sam Eldredge had three strikeouts during his five innings on the mound.

Summit kept the momentum rolling the next week. The Tigers recorded three huge 4A Western Slope league wins in a three-day span. 

On Wednesday, May 3, Summit faced Battle Mountain High School in Edwards, and the team galloped to a 10-run win. Unlike Summit’s game against Glenwood Springs, gameplay was slow going for the first three innings until Battle Mountain produced two runs in the bottom of the fourth. 

Battle Mountain enjoyed its lead for a few pitches before Summit erupted for an 11-run inning in the top of the fifth. The explosive inning was enough for the Tigers to defeat Battle Mountain, 12-2. 

Summit had one day in between before it took on Eagle Valley High School in Gypsum for a doubleheader on Friday, May 5. Summit was not challenged in either game as the Tigers powered past the Devils, 13-2, in the first game and bounced back for an even bigger victory in the second game. 

Summit defeated Eagle Valley 16-2 in the second game, led in large part by a five-RBI performance from Koll. Junior Tanner Gray led the team from the mound and recorded four strikeouts in four innings. 

With four consecutive wins under its belt, the team traveled to Grand County on Monday, May 8, to take on Middle Park High School. Despite being a Class 3A baseball program, Middle Park put up a fight against the visiting Tigers. 

Summit produced runs in the first and third innings to go up 3-0, but Middle Park evened the game at 3-3 in the fifth inning. Middle Park continued to produce runs after the fourth inning and was up 4-3 to enter the seventh and final inning. 

With a winning streak on the line, the Tigers combined for three runs at the top of the inning and held Middle Park to zero runs during their at the plate in order to secure a 6-4 win. Bradford was a force in the field, producing 11 putouts in the win. 

After playing almost the entirety of its regular season on the road, the Tigers played their first home game in front of a home crowd on Tuesday, May 9, at the baseball fields at Kingdom Park in Breckenridge.

In a rematch against Battle Mountain, the Tigers powered their way to another league win. After a two-run opening inning by Battle Mountain, Summit brought the score to 4-2 with a four runs at the bottom of the second.

Battle Mountain responded with a single run in the top of the third, but all the action afterward came from the Tigers’ bats. The team scored a run in the fourth and rounded out the game with an eight-run fifth inning to defeat Battle Mountain, 13-3.

“It was super cool,” Eldredge said. “Not only was it a rivalry game, but a ton of people came out. It was cool to see my classmates and friends come to the game.”

The win over Battle Mountain extends Summit’s winning streak to six games and improves its record to 11-5 overall and 6-2 in league play.

“We have a really deep team this year,” Eldredge said. “From one to nine, we can all hit for power as well as average. We all support each other, and it has been a great season so far.”

Summit is currently ranked second in the 4A Western Slope league standings and 14th in the Class 4A rankings. With the top 32 teams in 4A making the postseason state playoffs, the Tigers hope to continue to record tallies in the win column in order to secure a high seed in the playoffs.

Summit will face Longmont High School in Longmont at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 11, and then will host two home games against Steamboat Springs High School on Saturday, May 13. The home games will either be played at the baseball field on the Frisco Peninsula or at one of the baseball fields at Kingdom Park in Breckenridge. Saturday’s games will start at 10 a.m. and noon. 

“I think we are more focused on (Thursday),” Eldredge said. “We have Longmont — one of the top 4A teams in the state. We have to go play a tough game out there and then finish with four more wins at home going into playoffs.”