Eagle Valley baseball defeats Aspen 11-4

Elias Pena struck out nine in five innings and Anthony Ehlert and Jacob Loupe each went 3-for-4 from the plate as Eagle Valley defeated Aspen 11-4 Tuesday night in Eagle. The Devils collected 11 hits and improved to 2-2 in handing the Skiers (3-1) their first loss of the year.

“Boys played well — we had some good success all around,” head coach Bret Moyer said. “Jacob’s hitting — he’s on fire right now. He’s seeing the ball, he’s hitting it hard. Even when he makes an out, he puts the ball in play really hard, so it’s been great to see.”

He had high praise for Ehlert, too.

“We knew we had a really good young player in him. We’re surprised and happy with how well he’s performed in these first four games for us,” he said of the freshman, who is batting 0.538 with three triples on the year.

“It’s been a big boost for our lineup. He’s smoking the ball right now just like Jacob is.”

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After watching Eagle Valley get out to a 4-2 lead, Aspen scored a pair of runs in the top of the fourth to tie things up. Loupe turned the momentum back in favor of the Devils in the fifth, however, driving in Nicholas Rahe on a triple to make it 5-4. Jack Robinson’s sacrifice bunt drove in Camden Carle on the next at bat as the Devils ended the inning with a 6-4 advantage.

“We had a lot of guys who had some unselfish at-bats with productive outs,” Moyer said.

Pena, who struggled slightly with his control in the early goings, would strike out the side in the top of the fifth and the Devils poured on two more runs in that inning and three more in the sixth to seal the win.

“Elias really settled in and threw the ball nicely and Loupe came in and finished it off for us,” Moyer said, noting that Loupe came in for the save after two innings of work. The Devils (2-2) have a doubleheader at home against Steamboat Springs on Saturday to open up league play.

“Overall, tonight’s performance was good,” the coach concluded. “We have a few things to work on still, but our team is looking up right now and everything is pretty positive.”