Cowboys play Panthers today in Meeker for semifinal slot

MEEKER | The Cowboys’ baseball team finished the regular season with a win at home last Saturday and they will play the Rangely Panthers today at Paintbrush Park at 4:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to the semifinals against the No. 2 seeded Hotchkiss Bulldogs, this Saturday at Grand Valley High School.
Meeker also played Roaring Fork last week and finished the regular season with a 13-6 record, with two more wins against the Panthers in the final games of the regular season.
“We beat Roaring Fork 15-14 in a nail biter,” Meeker head coach Brian Merrifield said of the game where the Cowboys trailed by two going into the bottom of the seventh and final inning.
Junior Garrett Frantz and freshmen Todd Patterson pitched to catcher Ty Gibson, who led his team to victory with a walk-off single to left field.
Junior teammates Trapper Merrifield and Logan Hughes each had three hits, with Hughes’ third hit of the game going over the right field fence for a home run to pull the Cowboys to within two at the top of the seventh inning.
Patterson was on the mound when the Rams went three-up and three-down, giving his team a final chance at bat.
Cooper Meszaros led the top of the seventh with a single to left field and Frantz followed with a double to right, advancing Meszaros to third. Junior Uri Goedert scored Meszaros with a single to right, pulling the Cowboys to within one and moving Frantz to third.
Trapper Merrifield’s third hit of the game scored Meszaros to tie the game and moved Goedert to third, when Gibson confidently stepped into the batter’s box and hit a game-winning single into left field.
“It was another great win for us,” Coach Merrifield said. “The team just kept grinding and in the bottom of the seventh, we came together and found a way to win.”
The Cowboys defeated the Rangely Panthers 10-0 and 16-4 in the final doubleheader of the regular season.
Coach Merrifield said the Cowboys won the first game “behind impressive pitching from Patterson,” who pitched five innings on 37 pitches and “our defense took care of business.”
Senior Hunter Garcia and Goedert each had three hits and junior Doak Mantle hit his third home run of the season in the first game against the Panthers.
The winner of today’s game will play Hotchkiss Saturday at 1 p.m. in Parachute and the championship game is scheduled to be played at 3 p.m.
Coach Merrifield said his team is ready and trying to play their way into a regional/state game.
“This team, this group of young men have played a lot of baseball together over the past 10 years and they are hungry for a little more,” Coach Merrifield said. “We’d love to see Cowboy fans come out and cheer us on.”