By Don Ketchum

Could this be the year for Anthem Boulder Creek in baseball?

It appears to be a strong possibility.

The Jaguars, third in Arizona Interscholastic Association power points for Class 5A Division II entering Friday’s (April 1) Northwest Region game at Phoenix Sandra Day O’Connor, got a solid all-around effort in a 6-4 victory.

Boulder Creek ran its record to 22-4 overall, 6-0 in region play. Sandra Day O’Connor, No. 16 in power points going in, fell to 14-7 and 4-1.

Boulder Creek took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, only to have Sandra Day O’Connor come back to take a 2-1 lead in the second. Boulder Creek scored twice in the third, and Sandra Day O’Connor tied it at 3 in the bottom half of the inning.

The decisive inning was the fourth for Boulder Creek, when it scored three runs on an RBI double by Alex Real, an infield hit by Cody Jones and a delayed double steal, with Alex Real coming home when Jones got caught in a rundown between first and second.

“Our kids have a lot of tenacity,’’ said Boulder Creek coach Joe McDonald. “The key for us was keeping them (Sandra Day O’Connor) out of big innings. It was a dogfight between two good teams. It was a great game against a good friend (Sandra Day O’Connor coach Jeff Baumgartner).’’

Right-hander Tony Blanford worked the first five innings for the Jaguars and got help in the sixth from left-hander Alex Lownes and in the seventh from Alex Real, who notched his ninth save.

Lownes surrendered a leadoff double to Greg Saenz in the sixth, but retired the next three hitters. Alex Real walked the leadoff man in the seventh, but then got a strikeout and a 6-4-3 double play to finish the game.

“We’re going all right. We’re off to the best start in the history of the school, but we still have a long road ahead,’’ McDonald said. “Our pitchers did a good job today and they have done a good job all year.

“We knew when the season started that we had a chance to have a good team. We’re just trying to take it one day at a time. We have a fun group of kids and hopefully we can keep it going.’’