CAÑON CITY – Score one for the Pikes Peak League on Saturday. Two, really.

The Air Academy Kadets advanced to the Class 4A state baseball tournament with an 8-7 win against Silver Creek and a 10-5 win against host Cañon City at Justin Field.

The Kadets entered as the state’s No. 24-seeded team, and the only league champion not to host a district. None of that matters anymore.

“That’s never really bothered me. I honestly didn’t care if we were No. 1, 24 or 32,” Air Academy coach Doug Goldberg said. “As long as we were in the tournament, I was excited. You’ve got to beat the best. It put us in this bracket, and honestly I wasn’t too excited about playing Silver Creek and Cañon City, and even Centaurus is a good team, too.”

The district was one of the toughest of the eight, no doubt, as it featured two league champions, a Silver Creek team that was atop the state rankings for much of the season, and Centaurus, who played the toughest schedule of any team in Class 4A.

No. 8 seed Cañon City advanced past the first round with a 9-5 victory against No. 25 Centaurus in the opener, and Air Academy won an 8-7 back-and-forth game against No. 9 Silver Creek. That pitted the Colorado Springs Metro League champion Tigers against the Pikes Peaks League champ Kadets fighting for the state berth.

Kadets ace Bailey Hansen got the start against Silver Creek and pitched well. He also homered off Raptors starter Austin Wood over the right-center field fence. Air Academy took a 5-0 lead in the fourth inning, but the Raptors answered with seven straight runs. The Kadets finished the game’s scoring with three in the sixth and held on thanks to a strong effort in relief from Kobie Schmitt.

“That’s been his role all year is to come in in tough situations and slam the door,” Goldberg said.

He didn’t exactly slam the door, but he got it closed. Schmitt gave up a home run to Wood before buckling down to secure the victory.

Against the Tigers in the district championship game, the Kadets scored four runs in the opening frame and never really let the game get too close.

“We came out hot,” Goldberg said. “It’s always fun when you play somebody in southern Colorado in your league or your geographic area.”

“We got beat by a better team today,” Cañon City coach Tim Ritter said. “Air Academy is better than us. They’ve got pitching, they hit the ball well. They beat us. You tip your hat to them and tell them good luck.

“That’s part of the game. You’re not going to win every game. As long as you get beat by a team, you can live with it, you don’t like it but you can live with it. They were better than us. They have a chance (at winning state). Being a 24th-ranked team in the RPI, I’m not quite sure that’s indicative of the talent they have. They’re a very good ballclub.”

The Tigers won the CSML this year and finished 18-3. Air Academy will take its 16-5 record to state where they’ll face Northern League champion Mountain View.

Air Academy baseball was eliminated from the state tournament Saturday.

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