Red vengeance

Eaton picked a good time to even the season series with Erie.

The Reds avenged their only league loss of the season on Saturday in the Class 3A Baseball Championship Series state tournament, and they did so emphatically.

Fourth-seeded Eaton dismantled second-seeded Erie 16-6 in a Round 3 game that ended in six innings via the 10-run mercy rule at Butch Butler Field in Greeley.

The win against the Tigers (17-6) was the second lop-sided tournament win in a row for the Reds (21-3). Eaton knocked off top-seeded Faith Christian (20-4) by a score of 11-3 in Round 2 on Friday.

Reds junior catcher Bennett Pickar said outscoring the tournament's top two seeds by a combined 27-9 is a testament to how focused Eaton is. The team will try to win its eighth state baseball title in school history and fifth this decade.

"We want it bad," Pickar said of the team's quest for its first title since 2004. "Our guys realize we're playing against some really good teams. Erie's a great team. We needed to put up good at-bats if we were going to win this thing. We can't walk over anyone here."

Eaton will resume tournament play against Brush (2-1 in tournament, 13-11 overall) in the final four at noon Friday at Butch Butler. A win would set up a title game on Saturday against one of the other two survivors; Lamar or Erie.

With Saturday's win, the Reds improved to 3-0 in tournament, remaining the only team unbeaten in the eight-team double-elimination tournament.

Eaton fell 5-4 to Erie the last time the two teams met, on April 15 in Erie in a Patriot League contest. In that game, the teams were knotted up until the Tigers scored the eventual game-winner in the bottom of the fifth.

On Saturday, the Reds had no intention of allowing Erie the opportunity for late-game heroics.

The Reds took a 7-0 lead in the bottom of the first with Pickar, junior third baseman Tyler Wallace and sophomore right-fielder Adam Geisick each driving in a pair of runs. Wallace's four RBI extending his season total to a school record 55.

Erie trimmed the deficit with three runs in the second and third innings, but Eaton fell just one batter short of hitting around its lineup for the second time in three innings, using a four-run third to extend its lead to 11-3.

Senior shortstop/pitcher Bo McLavey's sacrifice fly to left field drove in Geisick to end the game with just one out in the bottom of the sixth.