To say that Dove Creek athletics enjoyed the 2021-22 athletic calendar would be an understatement. Perhaps the best year in school history in terms of depth and breadth of success enjoyed by both the boys and girls programs, the one piece that has eluded the Bulldogs is a state title.
For head coach Trent Daves and the Bulldogs baseball team, adding a banner to the gymnasium wall appears tantalizingly close. Last year, the Bulldogs fell in the round of eight to eventual state runner-up, Flatirons Academy, 1-0. Many members of this year’s unit featured in that contest, along with the Bulldogs’ 10-7 campaign.
Having enjoyed success from quarterfinal appearances in football and basketball, Dove Creek’s veteran squad includes players who have trade their hardwood sneakers for cleats and mitts.
Dove Creek’s 2015 state title stands as the most recent team title for any of the Montezuma or Dolores County high schools. As was the case during that postseason run, the Bulldogs aim for a balance of quality pitching and offense to help them compete against Front Range powers.
Leading the way for the 2022 edition, senior Ryan Jarmon returns as one of the team's top offensive threats. Batting better than .300 a season ago, Jarmon joins classmates Preston Spigner and Blane Johnson as the senior leadership for Daves’ Bulldogs. Both Spigner and Jarmon look to patrol the outfield for the Bulldogs, while Johnson has made a home as a corner infielder.
Junior Kendall Gardner serves as a table-setter for the offense, while classmate Cole Taber has the capability to look for his pitch, or get on base by patiently drawing walks. For both Gardner and Taber, reaching base allowed them to wreak havoc on the diamond, as the duo finished among the team leaders in stolen bases.
Sophomore Gage Buffington broke into the lineup in a big way in his freshman campaign, and Daves will lean on Buffington to continue to develop his power in the middle of the Bulldog order.
Dolores sophomore Jonathan Purkat continues the recent trend of Bears baseball players joining forces with Dove Creek, and the dual-threat sophomore looks to contribute both at the plate and on the mound.
Alongside Purkat, Dove Creek will have a trio of sophomores seeing some significant innings of work – with Buffington joining Hunter Daves as part of the primary rotation for the Bulldogs.
After the graduation of a group of steady-fielding seniors, Dove Creek will look for the emergence of younger Bulldogs to fill in the holes on defense. Sophomores Aiden Chadd and Taber Dejane look to emerge for a team that enjoyed an .887 fielding percentage from a year ago.
Dove Creek opened the season 1-1, courtesy of a 9-7 league win over Ignacio to rebound from a 19-9 defeat at the hands of 3A Montezuma-Cortez.
Dove Creek aims for their third winning season in a row, and a stern schedule aims to get the Bulldogs ready for district and regional play in early May. A trio of meetings with perennial 1A power Nucla highlights the schedule, including a home doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 23rd.
Prior to that, the Bulldogs will open their home schedule against Rangely on April Fools’ Day, before entertaining Sanford on Apr. 9 to kick off an eight game homestand. Games against border rival Monticello helps the Bulldogs to hone their energy on a the pursuit of a deep 1A postseason run, which begins on Friday, May 6, in Ignacio.
