Blue Jackets drop home game to Montrose

Pitching and running woes plague team

While it was not the “official” opening of the new Tommy V Field, the Crested Butte Blue Jackets played their first game on the brand new field on Wednesday, June 2 against Montrose.
The official opening of the field will be Saturday, June 12 with a host of activities including a double header for the Blue Jackets against Cedaredge. And if Michael Blunck has his way, it will be complete with red, white and blue bunting hanging from the fences.
It’s just as well it wasn’t the official opening day because troubles on the mound, paired with troubles on the base path, resulted in an 11-3 loss to Montrose.
A series of walks interspersed with the occasional bean ball and a base hit or two resulted in a 7-0 Montrose lead after one inning.
It took until the bottom of the third inning for the Blue Jackets bats to find the ball. Singles by Aaron Blunck and Liam Mortell put runners on the corners with one out. A classic double steal by Mortell and Blunck scored the Blue Jackets’ first run and Ian Kelly poked an RBI single to right to score Mortell.
Peter Bright tapped an error-assisted RBI single and the Blue Jackets had three runs on the board.
Montrose pushed three more runs across on a smattering of base hits putting the game out of Crested Butte’s reach for good.
“If you take away that first inning, we only lost 4-3,” says coach Dave McGuire. “We probably could have, and should have, beat that team. It might have been a case of home game jitters.”
The Blue Jackets rebounded from the loss with a road win on Monday, June 7 over Delta.
Facing blazing 96-degree heat and a stiff wind, the Blue Jackets came out in the first inning swinging, scoring two runs in the top of the first and seven runs in the top of the second inning to take a 9-0 lead.
Troy Pike started the game on the mound, pitching two shut-out innings including two strikeouts.
Nolan Blunck took over on the mound in the third inning and after giving up three runs, recovered to fan the next three batters and hold the Blue Jackets’ lead.
The Blue Jackets’ bats stayed hot throughout the game, scoring 14 runs total before it was over. Delta tacked on four more runs in the top of the fifth inning but Ryan Costello came out to pitch and ended the game with three strikeouts in row to close the 14-7 win.
“We started right out in the first inning,” says McGuire. “It was a little better offensive display than we showed at home.”
The Blue Jackets will host a doubleheader against Cedaredge on Saturday, June 12 at Tommy V Field at 12:30 and 3 p.m.
“We have the potential for a good week—we just have to conserve our pitching,” says McGuire.