LAKEWOOD — In shades of the late ’90s, Cherry Creek baseball remains unstoppable.
The Bruins dominated Regis Jesuit on Saturday at All-Star Park with an 8-1 victory in the Class 5A title game. Senior right-hander Wyatt Rudden was masterful, while the Raiders’ pitching staff — which had ace Hudson Alpert injured and used its two other top arms on Friday to advance — couldn’t hold down the Bruins’ potent lineup.
With the win, Cherry Creek became the first 5A program to repeat since Rocky Mountain won four in a row from 2007-10. It’s the second time the Bruins have won consecutive titles, as Cherry Creek claimed five straight from 1995-99.
Cherry Creek's Tyson Thome (3) scores against Regis Jesuit Raiders catcher Nick Wiley (3) on a sacrifice fly hit by teammate Ryan Neumann (24) in the third inning of the Class 5A State Baseball Championship Game at All-Star Park in Lakewood, Colorado, on Saturday, May 31, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)Colorado’s all-time winningest coach Marc Johnson retired at the end of last season, but the Bruins didn’t miss a beat behind longtime assistant-turned-boss Joe Smith.
“When I accepted the job, coming in after Marc Johnson, some people said, ‘Why would you take that job?'” Smith said. “I was following the greatest high school coach possibly in the nation, but definitely in the state of Colorado. But without pressure, what opportunities are there in life?
“With the leaders we have on this team, I just guided them and they took the reins. We started 1-4-1, and our players never batted an eyelash. They came ready to play, ready to work. There was adversity and mistakes we made in a lot of those games that allowed us to grow and get better.”
With 12 college commits on the roster and seven Division I pledges, Smith steered the talent-rich Bruins to their 10th title. That tally trails only two small-school programs — Revere (11) and Eaton (15) — for the most in state history. The Centennial League champions finished 23-5-1, with their lone loss in-state a 3-2 setback to Grandview on May 9.
Johnson, who attended most of the Bruins’ games this season and was there Saturday to see them win the program’s first ring without him, said his successor “did a good job of keeping the team balanced.”
“Joe didn’t let them run away (with their egos) thinking we’re all this, we’re all that, even though on paper they were the best team in the state,” Johnson said.
Regis Jesuit, coming from the consolation side of the bracket, needed to beat Cherry Creek twice on Saturday to win the title, as the Bruins did to the Raiders last year. But Rudden was too dominant for Regis to sniff a second game.
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“We didn’t really have enough (medical) information on his diagnosis, and weren’t confident enough to roll him out there,” Regis Jesuit head coach Matt Darr said. “It’s not worth the kid’s future at this point. He didn’t feel right (against Arvada West), didn’t do much this week. It’s not worth it. It feels like it is, but it’s not.”
Cherry Creek loaded the bases with a single and two walks in the second, then used a double-play grounder and a wild pitch to push two runs across against sophomore right-hander Ryan Neumann.
The Raiders got a run back in the third to cut the score to 2-1. Senior center fielder Christian Lopez led off with a single, and a sacrifice bunt by junior second baseman Chase Massey moved Lopez to third. Lopez then scored on a wild pitch.
But that was all Regis Jesuit would get against Rudden, the Michigan commit who allowed three hits over five innings and 102 pitches, with eight strikeouts. Rudden kept Regis Jesuit guessing with a low-90s fastball, a low-80s slider and a mid-70s curveball.
Cherry Creek starting pitcher Wyatt Rudden (12) reacts after striking out Regis Jesuit Raider Carter Rathbun (7) in the first inning during the Class 5A State Baseball Championship Game at All-Star Park in Lakewood, Colorado, on Saturday, May 31, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)“I didn’t have my best stuff, but I competed and I gave it all I had,” Rudden said. “I had some rough tracks, but I knew if I just put the ball in the zone, I was going to have a chance. As the game went on, I knew I needed to use those secondary pitches a little more and get some punch-outs with the slider.”
Cherry Creek tacked on three more runs in the third off junior left-hander Alexander Denny. Senior third baseman Mason Scott’s RBI single, senior DH Lucas Schultz’s RBI ground-rule double and junior right fielder Tyce Smith’s sacrifice fly added up to a 5-1 lead.
“The offense gave me room to be flexible with my pitches, because after we started scoring, the pressure came off,” Rudden said.
The Bruins continued to tack on in the latter innings. Smith added a two-run single off sophomore right-hander Cade Filleman in the fifth, extending the lead to 7-1, and Cherry Creek scored one more off a wild pitch in the sixth. Junior outfielder Ari Rothman, senior shortstop Sean Goldy and senior first baseman Connor Larkin each had a multi-hit performance.
“We knew if we manufactured some runs today, we could get to their pitching, and that’s what we did,” said Tyse Smith, who played his freshman season at Regis Jesuit before transferring to Cherry Creek. “(Another title) was the expectation, and today we met the expectation in all aspects.”
The Bruins’ bullpen slammed the door with a scoreless sixth by junior left-hander Max Goldberg and another zero by senior right-hander Anthony Graziano in the seventh.
Graziano got senior right fielder Gavin Cronin to pop up to end the game, prompting the Bruins bench to clear and dogpile in celebration.
As Cherry Creek passed around the trophy, Darr and Johnson shared a moment. The latter reminded the Regis Jesuit coach that although Johnson won nine titles, he was also runner-up six times. Darr, in his 11th season with the Raiders, won the 2019 title by beating Cherry Creek and Saturday marked his third runner-up finish.
Darr believes the Raiders, who return five of their top six arms and five starters in the field, are capable of another championship push in ’26.
“It was an emotional season in a lot of ways and a hard season with a lot of adversity, but to make it to the championship game on the final day, I’m really proud of this group,” Darr said. “We’ve had more talented teams, but this group is maybe as competitive as I’ve had.”
On the other side of the diamond, Cherry Creek graduates a pivotal group of seniors, but the cupboard always seems to restock in Greenwood Village.
“The past two years, we’ve instilled a culture that is going to continue to live on,” Rudden said. “There’s a good chance there’s going to be a lot of similar success like this in the very near future.”
Cherry Creek's Wyatt Rudden (12) hoists the championship trophy after defeating the Regis Jesuit Raiders 8-1 in the Class 5A State Baseball Championship Game at All-Star Park in Lakewood, Colorado, on Saturday, May 31, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.
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