With the weather warming up, Colorado baseball teams are finding their form

Over a two-week span in Arizona, the Coach Bob Classic and Pride Invitational takes center stage and more than 30 Colorado teams took the opportunity to venture the desert surrounding the Phoenix area. Teams such as Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village) or Chaparral (Parker) certainly go down with intentions of competing for tournament titles. The Wolverines went 3-2 in their week at the Coach Bob Invitational.

Others are there for the first time with hopes of energizing their team and building excitement around the program. Manitou Springs coach Brandon DeMatto had his eyes set on this week for a while. His team's fundraising efforts paid off with the trip, and even if the Mustangs don't come away with a win, the atmosphere and team-bonding experience should give the players a shot in the arm for the rest of the regular season.

Other teams are hoping to set their tone for the year and find out what their teams are made of. Centaurus (Lafayette) is coming off a four-win season in 2018 and already has five victories to its name this year. They battled back to beat Knappa (Astoria, Ore.) on Tuesday in a fashion that matched a win over Mountain Range (Westminster) this past weekend. The trip to the Pride Classic is something that coach Doug Kinney is hoping pays off in ways that are more than just wins.

"What we're trying to do is build team unity, team bonding and cohesiveness," Kinney said. "We're learning to play together, to pick each other up and compete not only individually but as a unit."

Once the remaining teams return to Colorado, league play will begin ramping up. And across all classes, there are more than a handful of teams to keep an eye on.

Class 5A
Defending champion Mountain Vista (Highlands Ranch) looks every bit the part of the top team in the state. The Golden Eagles took to the Scott Boras Classic in Arizona last week and went 1-2, then returned home to beat up Cherry Creek in a 15-2 win.

Sam Ireland threw five innings and struck out five hitters, while allowing just one earned run in the win. Offensively Mountain Vista has the combination of Ireland and Grant Magill – who is hitting a staggering .654 – leading the charge.

It's far from a foregone conclusion that Mountain Vista will simply go on to repeat. Cherry Creek is always a traditional baseball power even with a big loss to the Golden Eagles. Last season's runner-up Heritage (Littleton) is back in the conversation and will compete because of depth in its pitching staff. Pete Chronowski, Eric McKnight and Jimmy Hebenstreit have already logged an evenly distributed amount of innings this year and have pitched well, as expected.

Speaking of pitching, Riley Cornelio of Pine Creek (Colorado Springs) is sure to attract a lot of attention this spring. After going 9-0 with a 0.91 ERA last season, he's jumped right back int0 rhythm this year. Heading into Wednesday, he's 2-0 and has struck out 19 hitters in just 9.1 innings pitched.

Class 4A
With defending 4A champion Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch) now playing at the 5A level, the 4A field is wide open. Familiar names like Pueblo West and Cheyenne Mountain (Colorado Springs) are sure to make noise. Both teams have every intention of making it back to the final weekend of the state tournament.

Through 11 games, the Cyclones looked loaded offensively. Chandler Mason, Tyler Declusin and Tyler Barth all sit inside the top 10 in 4A in RBI. West leads all 4A teams in total runs scored, but the entire city of Pueblo appears to have a monopoly on offense.Pueblo South, Pueblo Central and Pueblo Centennial fall right behind the Cyclones.

Cheyenne Mountain is taking the opposite approach. Coach Mark Swope has a stable of junior pitchers that have not given hitters a lot to work with. Through 34.2 combined innings from Michael Ellis, Devin Dodson, Bo Iacobbo and Cam Buckler only six earned runs have been surrendered.

Other teams such as Lewis-Palmer (Monument) are looking for a blend of offense and pitching. Evan Walsh is tied for third in the classification with two home runs, and pitcher Jason Shuger already has a no-hitter to his name this season.

Roosevelt (Johnstown), Longmont and Holy Family (Broomfield) have also played well early and should establish themselves among the top teams in the class.

Class 3A
Northeast Colorado remains the hotbed for 3A baseball. Defending champion University (Greeley) is hoping the hard-hitting duo of Joe Medina and Braden Furister can help the Bulldogs contend for another state title.

State runner-up Lamar is off to a rough start to the year, but with Max Carere and Kameron Farmer finding success at the plate, the Savages could once again enter the championship conversation if they can solve the pitching woes.

Eaton has shown signs that championship glory could once again be on the horizon. Sophomore pitcher Ryan Ure has been fantastic this season, giving up just three hits while striking out 26 hitters in 11 innings.

There are also teams looking to make a name for themselves in the classification. Prospect Ridge Academy (Broomfield) has gotten the attention of 3A coaches across the state and rightfully so. Brandon Huffman leads the state in RBI with 15 and has three teammates in Jake Thiret, Griffin Hill and Justin Huffman sitting in the top 15 in the same category.

The normally strong Tri-Peaks League looks to be rounding back into form as well. St. Mary's (Colorado Springs) has two mashers in Sam Baldwin and Joseph Sabish driving in runs at a high rate. Colorado Springs Christian has some big wins to its name, and Manitou Springs freshman Raymond McCaskey has broken into the top 20 in the state in RBI.

Class 2A
The 2A landscape this year could run through Peyton. The Panthers return all but one start from last year's runner-up team, and Rodney Gregg is on the radar as one of the top prospects in the entire state.

Through six games, Dayspring Christian (Greeley) certainly wants to be involved in the conversation about 2A's top teams. Rylan Aikens is leading the way for the Eagles in dominant fashion. His on-base percentage is holding at .741. He leads 2A with 14 runs scored while teammates Blake Phillips, Tyler Sugden and Koby Anderson all sit inside the top 10.

The one thing the 2A field is not short on is batting average. Of players with at least 10 plate appearances, Wray's Justin Pecar, Peyton's Gregg, Jacob Deacon of Sargent (Monte Vista) and Josh Lang of Front Range Christian (Littleton) are all batting better than .750 for the year.

Class 1A
It's not even April, but Nucla's Will Gabriel has to be in the conversation for 1A player of the year. In 12 at-bats he has recorded 12 hits, including two doubles. He also has four RBI through four games. On the mound, he has stuck out 29 hitters in 15 innings pitched.

That's not quite good enough to be on the top of the strikeout chart. Cotopaxi's Chance Gulliford has fanned 33 batters in 17 innings.

Cornerstone Christian Academy (Westminster) has established itself as one of the top 1A teams this year. The Bulldogs jumped to a quick 2-0 start and has scored an average of 11 runs per game.

Briggsdale has been the team to flex the most muscles as Tavin Klem and Kaleb Brown are two of just three players in 1A to go deep this season. Springfield's Tyson Campbell is the third to hit a homer so far. Briggsdale is 2-1 but has a team OBP of .644, and once those players get on base they start moving. The Falcons have stolen 30 bases.

While still early in the season, there have been plenty of notable team and player feats already this season. With the weather gradually getting warmer each day, baseball teams across the state are just starting to hit their stride.