Continental League baseball stacked once again: A look at all 11 teams, players to watch

Of the 11 Class 5A baseball championships contested over the past 12 years, the Continental League’s won six of them, and appeared in eight title games overall.

So the odds of a Continental League team playing for the crown on the final day of the season on June 3rd at All-Star Park are pretty high.

As league play fires up this week, here’s a look at what is perennially the deepest and most talented conference in the state. While top-ranked Rocky Mountain and its Front Range League are to be respected, and the same for big-school king Cherry Creek and its Centennial League, the Continental slate is the top schedule to keep an eye on this spring.

Heritage

Coach: Jordan Johnson, 1st season (interim last year, 9th season at HHS)

Record: 11-1

The scoop: Heritage fell 6-4 in the regional championship to eventual state champion Broomfield last year, but the experience gained from 2022 is already translating to a hot start in 2023.

Plus, Johnson brought in a local pitching guru, Larry Chamberlain, to underscore the Eagles’ experience (nine seniors on the roster) and talent. HHS appears capable of matching or topping the program’s best-ever finish in 2018 when the Eagles lost in the state championship to Mountain Vista.

“I brought in Larry and he’s been coaching for over 30 years and was previously at Chatfield,” Johnson said. “He’s really helped our pitching staff grow.”

Top players: Sr CF Hank Orr (Barton), Sr C Jake Paczkowski (San Joaquin Delta), Sr SS/RHP Trevor Landen (Northern Colorado), Sr LHP Cade Kunz (Barton), Sr LHP Austin Carr (South Mountain).

Chaparral

Coach: Alan DiGiosio, 8th season

Record: 8-1-1

The scoop: After matching program history with a Final Four appearance last year, the Wolverines feel like they left some change on the table at All-Star Park when they fell short of the title game.

“Looking back on last year, we look at it as we should’ve been playing in that final game,” DiGiosio said.

Chaparral graduated six senior starters including its top three pitchers, but has found a new identity behind this year’s senior core that’s been playing varsity since their sophomore seasons.

“We want to defend our league championship from last year and be in position to win that again,” DiGiosio said. “It’s going to be quite the task, but everybody counted us out last year, and nobody had us on anybody’s radar. To a certain extent, we were that same way (entering) this year.”

Top players: Sr RHP Cooper Gilliland, Sr CF/RHP Brayden Munroe (Northern Colorado football/baseball), Sr SS Cole Jenkins (Air Force), Sr 1B Brody Sprinkle (Azusa Pacific), Sr 3B/RHP Dillon Volz (CSU-Pueblo), Sr 2B Tanner Donner (Yavapai College).

Mountain Vista

Coach: Ron Quintana, 13th season (two state titles, 2018 and ’21)

Record: 8-3

The scoop: After losing in the regional title last year, Quintana emphasized the team is “still trying to find its identity” as league play heats up.

“We’ve got to compete better,” Quintana said. “We haven’t put a full game together — we hit well, we don’t pitch well, we pitch well, we don’t hit well… We’ve got to be more fundamentally sound and do the little things right because this squad is still trying to figure out who they are, who we’re going to lean on, who’s our top guys.”

Top players: Jr RHP Grant Shepardson (San Francisco), Sr U Sean Marlow (St. Thomas), Sr RF Zeke Borel (Concordia), Sr OF Braden Miceli, Sr 3B/RHP Noah Baker (Murray State).

Regis Jesuit

Coach: Matt Darr, 10th season (one state title in 2019)

Record: 8-4

The scoop: After losing eight senior starters from last year’s state tournament appearance, the Raiders are “as young of a team” as Darr has had in his tenure on Lewiston Way.

“There’s some challenges and growing pains, but for the future, it looks really good,” Darr said.

For the now, the Raiders’ key is rebranding themselves from the mashers they were in 2022 to the run manufacturers they need to be this season.

“Last year, we hit 34 home runs with just a loaded lineup,” Darr said. “We don’t have near the power or the hitting that we had last year, but we’re faster. We’ve embraced the identity of playing some small ball, stealing bases… We’re going to be a team that wins games 5-4 and not 10-8.”

Top players: Sr LHP Jack Carey (Pepperdine), Sr INF Brian Kenney (Chandler Gilbert), Sr LF Nate Lewis (Johns Hopkins), Sr 1B Grant Gedrose (Augustana), Soph CF/LHP Christian Lopez, Jr OF Brody Chyr, Jr SS Andrew Bell.

Rock Canyon

Coach: Allen Dyer, 5th season (won titles in 2007 and ’16 at Cherokee Trail)

Record: 9-3

The scoop: After losing in the regional title last year, Dyer’s lineup might be the deepest in the league as the Jaguars are “feeling like they have something to prove” this spring.

“We’ve got a great core of returning guys, and we’ve got the right guys in the lineup led by shortstop Chase Jaworsky (who currently leads Class 5A with eight homers) and first baseman JT Shank, our four-hole hitter and also a three-year varsity starter,” Dyer said.  “(No. 1 pitcher) Sean Barta, JT and Chase are our guys we lean on everyday and will keep doing so.”

Top players: Sr SS Chase Jaworsky (Utah Valley), Sr 1B JT Shank (Pacific), Sr RHP/INF Chase Goode (Miles), Sr C Carson Krell (Morningside), Sr RHP/CF Sean Barta (Pima), Sr 2B Eric Hagner.

More contenders

As Regis Jesuit boss Matt Darr pointed out, in the “gauntlet” of the Continental League, “you’re going to have a team that goes 7-3 or 6-4 in the league, and probably one or two of those teams will make it to the state tournament.”

Legend (8-4) is off to a strong start behind senior infielder/center fielder Nathan Hopkins (Seward County) and southpaw Jack Perotti (Nevada) and has the overall firepower to make a run at the league title… Highlands Ranch (7-5), coached by former Rockies utilityman Terry Shumpert, features senior first baseman and right-hander Ryan Toole (Augustana football and baseball)… Ponderosa (6-6) moved up to 5A following consecutive 4A titles, but coach Bob Maloney’s squad can’t be counted out to be ready to make noise in the postseason… Douglas County (3-7-1) has two of the top arms in the state in senior right-handers Max Stanley (BYU) and Hunter Gotschall (Hawaii)… Castle View (7-6) has seven sophomores on the varsity roster including standout shortstop Tommy Feldhake… ThunderRidge (2-10) has one of the top arms in the state in junior right-hander Brock Lansville (Kansas).

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