Scott Kaniewski

The Arapahoe High School baseball team needed a big win and a big pitching performance.

Senior Zach Scott provided the pitching performance, and the lineup provided timely hits as the Warriors rallied to defeat Grandview 5-3 April 9.

Scott allowed three runs on nine hits while striking out seven. He improved his record to 3-1 and helped the Warriors snap a four-game losing streak.

“Coming in we hadn’t been doing great the last couple of games,” Scott said. “I felt that I had to produce, and the team felt they had to produce. Everybody knew they needed a big game out of everybody. We came out on top.”

Scott has become the staff ace. Arapahoe coach Luke Muller expected the senior to be part of the pitching rotation but didn’t expect him to become the ace.

“We needed it,” Muller said. “We knew we needed a good performance and he came out and threw extremely well. He’s definitely solidifying himself as our go-to guy right now.”

On the offensive end, the Warriors have relied on catcher Justin Byrd in the clutch. Byrd, hitting .610 on the season with a team-leading six home runs and 26 RBI, drove in the team’s first run with a basehit in the first.

“In my opinion, he’s the player of the state right now,” Muller said. “He’s hitting [.610] with six home runs. He’s tearing it up right now.”

While the Warriors know they can count on Byrd, they’re quickly learning they can count on Valor Christian transfer Mark Hutmacher. Hutmacher came through with the game-winning RBI, tripling down the line to score Brian Guymon.

The Warriors are getting a feel for Hutmacher’s hitting prowess. Since sitting out the required number of games because of his transfer, Hutmacher has homered twice.

“We’ve been expecting good things from [Hutmacher],” Muller said. “He can definitely help our team. We moved him up to the five spot today. … and a good move I guess.”

The victory over Grandview ended the Warriors’ skid. The rally against the Wolves and ace Kevin Gausman could be the jolt Arapahoe needs, Byrd said.

“Hopefully today will get the momentum going,” said Byrd, who signed to play baseball for the University of California at Berkeley next year. “I think it’s a turning point for all of us.”

The Warriors [4-4 Centennial League, 8-5 overall] followed up the victory over Grandview with a 12-0 shutout of Eaglecrest.

While the win over Eaglecrest was never in doubt, the Warriors had to come from behind against Grandview.

They trailed 1-0 after the first but tied the game in the bottom half of the inning on Byrd’s RBI single. Scott yielded runs in the third and fourth innings before shutting down the Wolves.

The Warriors tied the game in the fourth after Andrew Scully singled and Grant Robbins walked. A sacrifice bunt by Tim Billingsley moved the runners to second and third.

Then Arapahoe got a little help from Wolves left fielder Chad Bolsinger. Tim Shaffer’s high fly ball to left field gave Bolsinger trouble and bounced out of his glove, scoring both Scully and Robbins.

That set the table for the fifth inning and Hutmacher’s RBI triple. Hutmacher also scored on a passed ball.

Scott, who throws a fastball, curve and change, took care of the rest. He was on the finishing end of a 3-6-1 double play to get out of a jam in the sixth and finished the game by striking out Greg Bird, who’d homered off Scott in the first.

“That was really exciting,” Scott said.