{"id":748306,"date":"2026-05-30T23:15:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T23:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/748306\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T23:15:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T23:15:19","slug":"blake-swift-pitches-4a-state-championship-gem-for-pueblo-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/748306\/","title":{"rendered":"Blake Swift pitches 4A state championship gem for Pueblo County"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLORADO SPRINGS \u2014 His arm still warm from an unorthodox varsity debut, a Pueblo County sophomore sat in the lonely dugout and watched the state champions<\/a> celebrate on the infield.\n<\/p>\n

By the time he\u2019d been asked to take the mound, there wasn\u2019t much he could do to save his team. The Hornets needed two wins that day, having climbed out of the depths of the double-elimination bracket. Down big in the first game, they had essentially run out of pitchers. They just needed an innings eater. Blake Swift obliged.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis first pitching appearance of his career,\u201d Pueblo County coach Matt Eades recalled two years later, as if he still couldn\u2019t quite believe the circumstances of it.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the big leagues, kid. Now give us a few innings in the state championship game.<\/p>\n

Swift gave Eades four. Holy Family held on for a 13-6 win<\/a>. A first baseball state title in school history eluded Pueblo County. Eades approached Swift and another sophomore, JJ Barger, in the dugout after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told us we\u2019ll be back,\u201d Swift said. \u201cAnd he wasn\u2019t lying. We knew we\u2019d be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PitcherPueblo County’s Blake Swift (27) pitches against Falcon High School at the 4A Colorado State Championship game at the United States Air Force Academy Athletic Complex in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Saturday, May 30, 2026. Pueblo County would go on to defeat Falcon 9-4. (Photo by Harmon Dobson\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

Swift\u2019s career ended with a dogpile on the same diamond two years later. Pitching into the seventh inning, the senior led Pueblo County to a 9-4 win over Falcon High School for the Colorado Class 4A championship on Saturday at Air Force Academy\u2019s Erdle Field. This time, the Hornets were in pole position, needing only one win. Eades\u2019 promise was fulfilled; Swift took advantage of the second chance. The program\u2019s breakthrough was all the more satisfying for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes full circle today,\u201d Eades said.<\/p>\n

Swift\u2019s only regret was that he couldn\u2019t go the distance. He cruised into the seventh, safely under the 110-pitch limit, comfortable with a 9-1 lead. He wanted the complete game \u201cpretty bad,\u201d he said. But after letting a few batters get away from him, his pitch count had spiked. Eades had no choice but to go to his bullpen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I went out to get him,\u201d the coach said, \u201cI just told him, \u2018What a great career. Don\u2019t worry. We\u2019re gonna finish this for you.’\u201d<\/p>\n

A blowout started to inch toward anxious territory first. After the Falcons scored their third run of the inning on a two-out walk, they were one baserunner away from bringing the tying run to the plate. But the game ended on a strikeout looking. Swift\u2019s final gem was preserved, even if the box score didn\u2019t appear as pristine as his 1.34 season ERA through 14 games<\/a>. He pitched 6 1\/3 innings in the title-clinching win, striking out five while allowing three earned runs on six hits.<\/p>\n

\u201cEver since he pitched that day (in 2024), we just knew he was gonna be our guy,\u201d fellow senior Nick Hernandez said. \u201cSo it was nice to see him go out this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IzzyIzzy Trujillo (1) shouts in support of his teammates as Pueblo County High School faces off against Falcon High School during the 4A Colorado State Championship game at the United States Air Force Academy Athletic Complex in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Saturday, May 30, 2026. Pueblo County would go on to defeat Falcon 9-4. (Photo by Harmon Dobson\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

Falcon tried to hammer Swift before he could settle in, swinging early in counts and making hard contact. The exit velocities and launch angles he allowed in the first inning would\u2019ve portended disaster if those sorts of things were tracked in high school baseball. The first five batters of the game had Pueblo County\u2019s outfielders chasing down tricky fly balls in the morning wind. A double off the wall. Two deep sacrifice flies. An error in left field on a drop near the track.<\/p>\n

The Falcons only got one run out of it. They made Swift throw only 12 pitches.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll you need to know about him is the way the game started,\u201d Eades said. \u201cThree rockets, and you couldn\u2019t tell. He was the same guy that he is all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deficit didn\u2019t last long. With two outs in the top of the second, nine-hitter Elijah Tafoya fought off a full-count pitch out of play, then tripled off the right field wall to give Pueblo County the lead for good. Hernandez followed with a rope up the middle to score Tafoya.<\/p>\n

The Hornets thrived all season by creating havoc on the base paths. On Saturday, they had Falcon kicking the ball all over the field. Two runners went first to third on errant pick-off attempts. Pueblo County capitalized on the second of those errors with an insurance run in the fourth. Again, it was the senior second baseman Hernandez delivering a two-out RBI single. He finished his 2-for-3 day with an RBI hit-by-pitch in the sixth, igniting a five-run frame to put the game out of reach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely played our game,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cWe played clean. Relied on Blake to get us outs. Played good defense behind him and had his back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pueblo community had his back, too. About a week before their return to the state championship game, the Hornets\u2019 catcher\u2019s communication equipment broke, leaving them little time to order a replacement. Pueblo South coach Kevin Ortiz came out to Pueblo County\u2019s graduation, according to Eades, and hooked the Hornets up with his team\u2019s equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been rolling with it ever since,\u201d Eades said. \u201c\u2026\u00a0The city of Pueblo are champions today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swift wasn\u2019t at his absolute sharpest, but he was at his gutsiest. In the bottom of the fourth, he plunked back-to-back hitters to load the bases, warranting a mound visit. With the go-ahead run at the plate, he quickly got ahead 0-2 on the next batter, eventually inducing an inning-ending grounder to shortstop. Falcon left another two runners stranded in the fifth, when Pueblo County was still protecting a 4-1 lead.<\/p>\n

It helped, he said afterward, to have experience on the same exact mound. Experience burning through innings when his team needed it on the biggest stage.<\/p>\n

\"PuebloPueblo County High School coach Matt Eades hoists the championship trophy after his team defeated Falcon High School, winning the 4A Colorado State Championship game at the United States Air Force Academy Athletic Complex in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Saturday, May 30, 2026. Pueblo County beat Falcon 9-4. (Photo by Harmon Dobson\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

\u201cEl Caballo!\u201d Eades shouted at Swift as the Hornets hoisted the trophy. The Horse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A nickname that could\u2019ve applied to the senior hero or the sophomore upstart just the same.<\/p>\n

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver\u2019s teams.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLORADO SPRINGS \u2014 His arm still warm from an unorthodox varsity debut, a Pueblo County sophomore sat in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[33346,7304,6082,7,81638,765,5793,301,187,3943,92079,92075,766,165,252,6,302,92076,37190,92077,92078,25271,66],"class_list":["post-748306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-nuggets","tag-air-force","tag-air-force-academy","tag-baseball","tag-basketball","tag-chsaa","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-springs","tag-denver","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-denvernuggets","tag-el-paso-county","tag-falcon-high-school","tag-front-range","tag-latest-headlines","tag-more-nuggets-news","tag-nba","tag-nuggets","tag-prep-baseball","tag-preps","tag-pueblo","tag-pueblo-county","tag-southeast","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116666074806841465","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}