MEEKER | The Meeker High School baseball team hosted the Grand Valley Cardinals last week at Paintbrush Park, looking to earn its first win of the season in front of the hometown crowd. The Cowboys entered the game 0-6 and hoped to repeat their dominant win over Grand Valley last May.
This time, however, it was the Cardinals who edged out Meeker, handing the Cowboys a heartbreaking 5-4 loss. It marked Meeker’s eighth straight defeat dating back to last season.
“Before Grand Valley went up 5-4, we had a 4-2 lead,” head coach James Romansky said. “A missed scoop at first and a dropped third out on a perfect throw shifted the momentum. After that, our offense couldn’t get us back on top.”
Senior Carson Klinzmann went 2-for-3 with two runs and a stolen base in the loss. Despite the outcome, Romansky highlighted growth.
“Our biggest challenge is avoiding comfort in losing,” he said. “This team and staff don’t want that. We’re hungry. We’re adjusting daily, especially at the plate, to help our pitching and defense succeed.”
Grand Valley’s JJ Whiting went 2-for-3 with a run, and Tomas Satterfield picked up his first hit of the season. Meeker ended the day with a .130 team batting average and a .333 on-base percentage, with no home runs.
Two days later, the Cowboys traveled to Hotchkiss to face North Fork, looking to avenge a 9-7 loss from earlier in the season. But the Miners shut out Meeker 7-0, extending the Cowboys’ losing streak to nine games.
Meeker batted .120 and had a .214 on-base percentage. The loss dropped them to 0-8 overall and 0-3 in conference play.
“North Fork is a solid hitting program,” Romansky said. “They scored six in the first on hard-hit balls, bloopers, and errors. But after that, we pitched and defended well. Once again, the issue was consistency at the plate.”
Despite the result, Romansky saw progress in his young roster.
“When nerves fade, we play really well,” he said. “We need innings and experience. Every game, we find our rhythm — now we just need to find it earlier and sustain it.”
On Tuesday, Romansky faced his former team as Meeker took on winless Moffat County.
“I don’t know much about this year’s Moffat team, but like us, they’re young and rebuilding,” he said. “There are no easy games this year. Moffat is scrappy, and so are we. We’ve got to earn it.”
Romansky acknowledged the personal connection but said the game was about his current squad.
“This team isn’t about me,” he said. “It’s about our players finding out who they are. If that happens against Moffat, I’ll be proud — not because of the backstory, but because of their growth.”
Meeker returns home Thursday to host Rangely at 4 p.m., then welcomes Olathe on Saturday at 11 a.m. (JV follows at 1 p.m.).
“We’re in the grind — games every other day,” Romansky said. “We’re managing pitching carefully, but right now we’re focused on what’s in front of us.”
