The Summit High School baseball team came within inches of ending another season with a double-digit winning streak, but Glenwood Springs High School had other ideas on Tuesday, May 16.

Last year, the team ended the season with 12 consecutive wins in order to make a push for the Class 4A playoffs. This season, Summit managed to conclude with a record of 10-1 to shore up its spot in this spring’s playoffs.

Summit’s winning streak began after a spring break trip to Utah and Idaho where the team managed to win one out of the three games on the trip. Much like last season, the Summit baseball team vowed to not lose another game ahead of playoffs. Since April 27, the team has tallied win after win.

Over the last week, Summit grew exceptionally hot. The team defeated a competitive and challenging Longmont High School baseball program in Longmont on Friday, May 12, before the team won two games against Steamboat Springs High School in Summit on Saturday, May 13. 

With nine consecutive wins, Summit hosted Rifle High School on Monday, May 15, at the baseball field located within the Frisco Peninsula Recreation Area. After Summit dominated Steamboat Springs on Saturday, the Tigers looked to take care of the Rifle Bears in a similar fashion.

Instead of an easy win, Summit battled in a back-and-forth affair that came down to the final inning of play. Summit was leading 6-4 heading into the final inning, but Rifle scored five runs in the top of the seventh in order to pull to a 9-6 lead. 

Summit was not going to let the game or its winning streak be pulled from beneath it as the team combined for four runs in the final inning of play in order to win 10-9. 

The win over Rifle ultimately set the team up for its final game of the regular season on Tuesday against Glenwood Springs. With Breckenridge’s Kingdom Park baseball diamond lined with Summit students, fans and family, Summit attempted to put on a show in order to go into the playoffs with an 11-game winning streak.

Coming off a game the night before, Summit had a slow start.

Glenwood Springs started the game off with three runs before holding Summit to zero runs in the bottom of the inning. 

In the second, Glenwood Springs started the inning by getting two runners on base before junior Jackson Aguirre throttled a shot to the warning track at the back of the diamond to put Glenwood Springs up 5-0. 

Once Summit was able to escape the top half of the inning, the Tigers stepped to the plate with warm bats.

Senior Jack Schierholz got things started with a hit past the Demons’ infield before junior Tanner Gray  brought Schierholz home with a lofty shot to center field. 

Summit continued to score. Senior Corey Copper brought in a run off his hit before senior Cassius Bradford launched a rocket about 370 feet for a grand slam home run. 

With a six-run second inning, Summit led 6-5.

After a huge second inning, the third inning was moving more slowly with Glenwood Springs scoring one run to tie the game 6-6.

With three innings left to play and the team now trailing 7-6, Summit needed to find a way to throttle past its league opponent. The Tigers got close to finding an answer when it loaded the bases again in the bottom of the sixth, but a double play from the Glenwood Springs’ infield sent the game to the final inning with the Demons still leading by a run.

Summit was able to retire two Glenwood Springs batters off of superb pitching and fielding from Bradford, but the Demons scored two runs to conclude the inning.

With Summit’s back against the wall, trailing 9-6, Summit needed another red-hot inning in order to send the game to extra innings. 

Much like the second inning, Schierholz got things going for Summit with a huge hit to the outfield to get on base. Summit played aggressively at the plate the rest of the inning but failed to put another runner on base and fell to Glenwood Springs, 9-6.

“We just came out flat in the first couple innings,” senior Will Koll said. “We cannot do that. We thought it was going to be an easy game, and it turned out not to be. Going into playoffs, we have to come out wanting to play every out, every pitch like it is the last.”

With the loss, Summit concludes the season with an overall record of 15-6 and a league record of 9-3. Summit ranks second in the league behind Palisade, which concluded the season with a league record of 12-0.

Despite failing to win the league title, Summit still has plenty to be proud of as it awaits its seed in the Class 4A regional tournament.

“We need to flush what happened today and put in some work this week,” Koll said. “I think if we do that we are in a great spot for this weekend.”

The Class 4A regional tournament games will feature 32 teams with one team advancing to the state baseball tournament from each of the eight regions.

Last season, Summit was the 11th seed and was eliminated from Region 6 by No. 22 Erie High School. Prior to its loss against Glenwood Springs, Summit was ranked 13th in the 4A classification.

The 4A regional baseball tournament is scheduled to host games on Friday, May 19, and Saturday, May 20.