GREENWOOD VILLAGE — In the way the majors have Connie Mack, Colorado high school baseball has Marc Johnson. Now, both are the winningest managers in their respective realms.
Johnson broke CHSAA’s all-time baseball wins mark Wednesday with the Bruins’ dramatic 6-5 win over Grandview in extra innings. The victory gives Johnson 808 for his career, surpassing the 807 wins Jim Danley accumulated at Eaton.
The Bruins rallied from four runs down to win the record-breaker at Tom McCollum Field, with Kyle Barkley’s walk-off in the ninth the difference. Johnson’s career mark is now 808-205, with eight state titles, six runner-ups and 32 Centennial League titles to his resume.
“This has been a culmination of 49 years,” an emotional Johnson said. “I had no idea I would last this long, and I’m very grateful and very blessed for that. I had great teams, great coaches, great individuals, and I’m very blessed for that, too.
“It goes back (to the saying), ‘If there’s a turtle on a fence post, the question would be: How did it get there?’ The answer is he needed a hell of a lot of help. So did I.”
Win No. 808 didn’t come easy for Johnson, as the Bruins trailed for most of the game. The Wolves went ahead in the third with a pair of runs, and Grandview junior righty Aiden Biaggi had Cherry Creek off-balance at the plate.
Junior outfielder Casey Wood finally got the Bruins on the board with a two-out, RBI triple down the left field line in the fourth that made it 2-1. But Biaggi K’d the next batter to end the threat, and Grandview still controlled the momentum.
Grandview loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth, chasing starter Sean Barta. But the Bruins bullpen limited the damage to one run, with the Wolves taking a 3-1 lead.
Cherry Creek threatened in the fifth, loading the bases and finally getting to Biaggi. But the right-hander held, using an inning-ending 1-2-3 double play as the score remained 3-1. Grandview then swung the momentum even further in its favor with two runs in the sixth, extending the lead to 5-1.
But the Bruins did not go quietly into the sunny, mid-60s afternoon. Cherry Creek plated four runs, including two unearned, in the sixth as the Wolves came unglued and the game was tied 5-5. Johnson lauded his team’s fight against a Grandview team that is a state title contender.
“I’m actually more happy our guys won the game today in the way they did,” Johnson said. “This (grit) has been a big factor in building us to what we want to be. To fight back, and to come back from a deficit and take it into extra innings and come back to win the ball game, I couldn’t be more proud of the guys.”
The Wolves were about to re-take the lead in the ninth with runners on second and third and one out. But senior center fielder Cameron Yuran fielded a shallow pop fly and then gunned the runner out at the plate, setting the Bruins up for the dramatics in the bottom half of the frame.
Barkley’s ground ball produced an errant throw home that allowed the winning run to score, and the Bruins bench mobbed their 76-year-old Hall of Fame coach.
“I just wanted to put the ball in play and get the run in for ‘Coach J’,” Barkley said. “We needed that, and he deserved it, and I’m just glad I got it done.”
Johnson, who began as head coach at Cherry Creek 1973, is in his 50th year coaching for the Bruins (he was a varsity assistant in 1972). He also won five state titles in 28 years as the Bruins’ boys soccer coach from 1971-99.
