MEAD — Strong winds caused havoc on Tuesday’s Fairview-Mead baseball game.
Good news for the Knights: As did their slugger, Jackson Wier.
The sophomore had a career-best four hits and three RBIs as Fairview got a much-needed, late-season win sitting on the postseason bubble, beating the host Mavericks, 9-3.
“We are very confident,” Wier said about the young Knights (11-9), who came into the day as the last team projected to make next week’s Class 5A 32-team regional field. “We have had some tough losses over the season. But then again, we’ve had some really good wins.”
Beating Class 4A No. 22 Mead (10-10), as well as the wind, kept them in the playoff picture with two games remaining.
Up to No. 30 in CHSAA’s updated postseason rankings, a team that won four games last year — made up of mostly sophomores this spring — says it’s confident.
“They were young and were (mostly) freshmen last year, and they came into the offseason and put in a lot of work,” Fairview coach David Castillo said. “They’re still learning. From any bad experience or mistake we have, they flip it and say, ‘Let’s go onto the next thing.’”
A sound mantra for this day.
With the Mavericks’ home field in a haze from the kicked-up infield dirt, a blustering gale out to right field often made visibility tough. It was so strong at times, it moved pitches and even spun normal flyouts into something of a dance — twisting fielders this way, then that.
Players could be seen chasing for their hats across the field.
“It was challenging in the wind,” Mead coach Shawn Macaluso said. “Challenging to field. Challenging to pitch. But in reality, both teams had to play in it.”
Wier made it look like a breeze.
The sophomore came into the day with just one hit over his last 10 appearances at the plate before breaking out, going 4 for 4 and finishing a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.
“I did know,” grinned Wier, who had a two-run triple in the first inning, an RBI double in the third and a single in the fourth. Needing his third homer of the season to complete the feat when he came up in the seventh, he was OK with another single. “I wasn’t going to try to hit a home run. Most likely when you try to hit a home run, you don’t. I was just trying to get hard contact.”
His big day aided pitcher Liam Goetz, who allowed one run across five innings to win his first varsity start. The sophomore came into the day with just 8 1/3 innings of relief, having not thrown more than three frames in any appearance.
“I just tried to throw strikes and let my defense behind me make plays,” Goetz said, his ERA now down to 2.10. “I stayed calm.”
With little room for error, the Knights say they’ve already been in a postseason mindset. They finish at home against 5A No. 8 Prairie View on Thursday before going to 4A No. 41 Skyview on May 14.
The Mavericks, meanwhile, are still in very good shape to reach the 4A 32-team field. Though, they’re hoping to get back on track before it.
They’ve lost three in a row and for the second time in as many days after Silver Creek’s Connor Lopez’s walk-off double on Monday. They need to complete a game already in progress against 5A No. 56 Greeley West before traveling to 4A No. 59 Greeley Central on May 13.
“We’re working on our confidence,” Macaluso said. “It’ll get better. … We’ll work hard the rest of the week and go from there.”
