The Grand Junction High School baseball team is headed to the second weekend of the state tournament for the first time in more than a decade.
Behind a pair of complete games from their pitchers, the Tigers steamrolled their way through the Class 4A Region 5 tournament on Friday at Suplizio Field.
The fifth-seeded Tigers first defeated No. 28 Longmont 12-0 and ten topped 12th-seeded Discovery Canyon 4-1 to sweep the regional to punch their ticket to Colorado Springs for the state tournament next weekend.
“I’ve waited a long time for this!” Tigers junior Titus Forsyth said. “Getting the seniors and all of us together to go to state, we get a few more weeks together, it’s going to be great!”
Grand Junction started hot in the first contest of the day, as they batted around in the bottom of the first inning to seize an immediate 6-0 lead. The Tigers later added two runs in the third inning and four in the fourth to extend their lead to double digits, and behind a complete-game shutout from Forsyth, the Tigers cruised to a 12-0 run-rule victory in five innings.
All nine of the Tigers’ batters collected hits in the first game, including three with multiple base knocks: Forsyth, catcher Zyler Fazzi, and first baseman Davis Shepard.
Forsyth earned his fifth win of the season on the mound, allowing no runs on three hits and striking out six in five innings. The junior played a huge role in Grand Junction’s by ensuring his team would not have to burn any relief pitchers — leaving their entire bullpen available for the second game.
As fans at Suplizio Field would soon find out, however, protecting the bullpen for the afternoon contest was unnecessary.
Indiana State commit Andrew Henderson took the mound for Grand Junction in the afternoon affair, and proceeded to turn in one of the most dominant pitching performances of any local pitcher on the season. The senior pitched a complete game, allowing only one run on one hit, a fourth-inning triple, while striking out 10 batters to shut down Discovery Canyon in the regional championship game.
“The slider in particular, we were calling early in counts. We knew they were a really good hitting team coming into the game, so, just getting ahead with that’s big, keeping them off balance,” Henderson said on his gameplan.
The 6-foot-5 Henderson also contributed in a big way on offense in the third inning, turning on an 0-2 breaking pitch and depositing it in the bleachers in left field for a two-run shot that capped off a three-run rally to break what was previously a scoreless tie. The home run would prove to be the game-winning hit; the visiting Thunder scored their only run of the game the next half-inning on a leadoff triple and a sacrifice hit two batters later, but failed to mount a rally in any of the proceeding innings.
“It feels amazing. Just coming out here with these guys, we weren’t able to get it done the past three years, and finally getting out the regionals, it feels amazing” Henderson added. “And beating the team that beat us my sophomore year, I mean, that’s great.”
Discovery Canyon defeated Grand Junction 6-5 in a 10-inning thriller to eliminate the Tigers from the regional stage of the state tournament in 2024.
Henderson finished the second game 2 for 3 with a run scored and two RBI. He was one of just two Tigers batters with multiple hits in the win, alongside left fielder Tyler Johnson, who hit a double, drew a walk and scored a run in a 2-for-2 showing.
As regional victors, the Tigers have claimed one of eight spots in the first weekend of this year’s 4A state baseball tournament, which begins next weekend in Colorado Springs. Games for this year’s state tournament will be held on campus at the Air Force Academy; exact times and dates of Grand Junction’s upcoming contests will be announced later in the weekend once all regional tournaments have been completed.