Larry Robinson/The Daily Sentinel
Grand Junction’s Gareth Keller is held up by teammates on Tuesday after throwing a no-hitter in an 11-0, five-inning victory over Mountain View at Canyon View Park. Keller struck out 11 batters and walked one in the no-hitter.
Larry Robinson/The Daily Sentinel
Grand Junction High School junior pitcher Gareth Keller faced 16 batters Wednesday at Canyon View Park. Eleven of them went back to the dugout after striking out.
Only a leadoff walk in the second inning kept Keller from pitching a perfect game. Instead, the right-hander had to settle for a no-hitter in a 10-0 victory over Mountain View.
Keller had at least two strikeouts in every inning and struck out the side twice — in the first inning and the fifth inning. He threw only 54 pitches in the no-no.
The Tigers (5-1) jump out early, scoring two runs in the first inning, three in the second and four in the third. Kaleb David led the way with a 4-for-4 afternoon, including four runs scored, one RBI and a double. Tyler Johnson, Titus Forsyth and Clayton Scarbrough all had two hits and Forsyth and Andrew Henderson each had two RBI.
Palisade won a pair of games in Pueblo, defeating Pueblo East 10-8 and Pueblo County 5-4.
Against Pueblo East, the Bulldogs jump to a 3-0 lead after the top of the first inning, but trailed 5-3 entering the fourth. Tobyn Trottier led off with a single and scored on an error with two outs to pull Palisade within 5-4. After Hunter Howard singled to put runners on first and third, Wyatt Fleming gave the Bulldogs the lead with a two-run double. Palisade added three more runs in the fifth inning and Trottier capped the scoring for the Bulldogs with a solo home run in the seventh.
Howard and Ethan Bevan both finished with three hits and Trottier and Marshall Hickerson both added two hits.
Against Pueblo County, a four-run fifth inning — with all the runs being scored with two outs — pushed the Bulldogs to the win. Hickerson got the rally started with a single and scored on Dylon Larson’s RBI double. Howard’s RBI triple tied the game 3-3 and Fleming’s RBI single put Palisade ahead 4-3. Kian Kinslow capped the inning with an RBI double.
Larson, Howard, Kinslow and Hickerson all had two hits and Larson finished with two RBI.