The Machebeuf baseball team stormed out of the gate during the first week of the high school baseball season.

Jeff Ross, Jeff Lanser and the rest of the Denver Christian Crusaders slammed the Buffaloes back to earth Tuesday.

Using a strong pitching performance by Ross and a patient offense paced by Lanser, the seventh-ranked Crusaders beat Machebeuf 10-0 in a Class 3A Metro League contest.

"We didn't think we'd beat them by this much," Lanser said. "We thought coming out here it would be a close game. So this is a big win for us."

Machebeuf (4-1, 1-1 league) had scored at least 10 runs in each of its first four games, and Buffaloes pitchers had allowed only two earned runs and no walks in 21 innings entering the game.

Those numbers didn't stand up against Denver Christian (4-0 overall and league), which manufactured one run in the second inning before scoring seven in the third.

That was more than enough support for Ross, who improved to 2-0 while allowing two hits in a five-inning shutout.

"He's our No. 1, and he's No. 1 for a reason," Denver Christian coach Tyler Amidon said. "He throws three great pitches. He goes out and he challenges and he can throw a lot of pitches. I never worry about getting him tired. He's pretty hard to hit, and when he gets his curveball over, he's even tougher."

Machebeuf pitcher Jake Yurich, who had allowed only one run and no walks with 19 strikeouts in his first two starts, surrendered five hits and one walk during the Crusaders' seven-run third. That burst included two- run singles by Lanser, Sean Van Kooten and Joe Kurtz.

Lanser added a solo home run in the fifth and finished with three RBI, as did Van Kooten.

Lanser, a right fielder, capped his big day by throwing out Machebeuf leadoff hitter Mike Hansen at the plate in the fifth.

That preserved the Crusaders' 10-run lead, allowing them to secure the victory two innings early because of the mercy rule.

"We're just hitting a lot and working a lot on situational stuff in practice so we all know where to put everything when it's over the plate," Lanser said.

"We're a big-hitting team and we're always eager to get out there. We've got some big hitters and we're a versatile hitting team."

Denver Christian......017	02	-	10	9	0
Machebeuf......000	00	-	0	2	3

DC (ab-r-h-rbi) - Joe Bailey cf 2-1-1-0, G.J. Henry ss 1-1-0-0, Jeff Ross p 3-1-0-1, Jeff Lanser rf 3-2-2-3, Aaron Bennett 3b 2-3-2-0, Sean Van Kooten 2b 2-1-2-3, Andrew Hamstra c 3-0-0-0, Joe Kurtz 1b 3-0-2-3, Graham Ellsworth lf 3-1-0-0. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) - Ross (W, 2-0) 5-2-0-0-5-7.

M - Mike Hensen ss 2-0-0-0, Jacob Machado 2b 2-0-1-0, Ryan Owen cf 3-0-0-0, Jeremie Cox c 1-0-1-0, Jacob Yurich p 2-0-0-0, Taylor Roberts pr 0-0-0-0, Conner Smith 1-0-0-0, Adam Gomez lf 2-0-0-0, Roman Ashford dh 2-0-0-0, Sean McPherson 1b 1-0-0-0. Pitching - Yurich (L, 2-1) 5-9-10-10-2-5.

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