Utah 4A Baseball: Region 9 Goes Undefeated in Super Regionals Opener
The excitement of playoff baseball was slightly dampened by a lack of any unexpected activity in the Regionals last week.
In a best of three series, only one of the eight matchups went to the full three games.
Everything else was a sweep, everything else went chalk. The better teams proved to be just that, the better team.
#18 Mountain View was the only team to buck the trend by defeating the #15 Payson Lions in the aforementioned three games.
Fast forward to this week and Super Regionals as expected had a couple games that provided a bit more spark.
Even so, as all 16 teams wrapped up their first game of the Super Regionals last night, the same trend repeated itself.
The higher seed won 7 of the 8 contests on hand to jump out to a 1-0 series lead.
So, lets’ start this recap with the one upset:
#6 PARK CITY MINERS VS #11 PINE VIEW PANTHERS
Pine View remained red hot after drubbing #22 Sky View to the tune of a combined 22-2 score in two games.
For the third consecutive game the Panthers defense held their opponent to 2 runs or less in another impressive showing.
Tristen Sylvester was the man on the mound with three Ks in this one, allowing only 5 hits in 6.2 innings.
The scoring came in bunches for Pine View who saw three runs scored in the top of the first and another three in the top of the 5th.
That 6-0 cushion proved to be enough with the Panthers staving any Park City comeback for a 7-2 victory on the road.
Kyson Milne had 2 knocks to lead all hitters.
Carter Stubbs posted one hit, one of which was a double, and three runs batted in.
Freshman, Porter Cambell, led Pine View with 4 runs batted in off of a single hit which was a spectacular triple.
Royal Matthews and Griffen Rogers both had two knocks a piece in the Miners loss. Rogers was responsible for both runs batted in.
Park City will look to send it to game three today at 1:00 PM.
Now we move on to games that went chalk, but were competitive:
#7 CRIMSON CLIFFS MUSTANGS VS #10 JUAN DIEGO SOARING EAGLE
Juan Diego brought the fight to Washington Fields with a perfect start.
Zach Carlson started the game with a big time shot that went Yard for the solo home run.
Caden Fenger would walk to first as the 2nd man in the rotation setting up a 2-run home run right off the bat of Castle Huggard.
Three up, three runs scored.
Jarvis Osborn (6 IP, 2 K’s, 3 Hits) and Crimson Cliffs would eventually collect themselves.
With two runs of their own in the bottom of the first, the Mustangs made it a ball game in a matter of moments.
Headed into the 5th, Juan Diego was looking for another hit and Crimson had knotted things up at 3 runs apiece.
The tie was shattered with a moonshot from Crimson’s McKay Wright who sent one into the wind over the right field fence to bring home two runs.
The Mustangs would hold on for a 5-4 win in the clutch with two left on base for Juan Diego as they flew out to right field for the final out.
Closer, Staton Kranendonk, was credited with the save for the Mustangs.
Wright went 2/3 for two hits and three RBIs paired with his homer to lead Crimson Cliffs.
Crimson Cliffs lineup saw 2 knocks apiece from Chaci Pincock, Jason McArthur, Steele Barben and Parker Andrus.
Ty West and Kyler Skinner recorded the other two runs batted in for CCHS.
In defeat, Zach Carlson and Castle Huggard had the two home runs and Andrew Lombana recorded a hit for the Soaring Eagle.
Game 2 takes place at 1:00 today.
#4 DESERT HILLS THUNDER VS #13 UINTAH UTES
The Utes hit the road running with a quick 1-0 lead in the first.
Desert Hills would respond with 3 runs of their own accord,
After that, things slowed down quite a bit.
Other than a single run scored in the third, the score would hold steady with the home town Thunder notching a 4-1 victory and a 1-0 series lead.
The Thunder played a clean game with zero errors compared to Uintah’s two.
The Thunder outhit Uintah to the tune of 7-4.
Harmon Skeen and Crew Christensen were responsible for 4 of those with two apiece.
For Skeen, one of the two hits went the distance and we would finish the game as the game’s leader in RBIs.
Beau Wall notched the other RBI for DHHS.
Hoyt Atkin put on a pitching showcase tossing 8 strikeouts compared to the 4 hits against 24 batters faced.
Hunter Funk, Jaron Colton, Kayson Massey and Derick Hardy all finished the night with a hit.
Massey was responsible for the single run batted in on the night, scored by Colton.
Game two is a go at 1:00 today.
And here’s all your games that went chalk, and weren’t particularly close.
#1 DIXIE FLYERS VS #16 COTTONWOOD COLTS
The Colts reward for a grueling regionals matchup with Hurricane was facing off against the best team in the RPI on their home field.
Dixie wasted no time putting up six runs in the first and never looked back finishing this one in 5 innings with a final of 12-0.
Dixie’s Braxton Yates (3 K’s) got the call from the bump and answered only giving up one hit and forcing Cottonwood into a goose egg on the scoreboard at Flyer Field.
The most impressive part is how quickly Dixie was able to work through the Colts lineups with Yates only facing 10 batters and closer, James Lea, (1 K, 1 H) facing six.
8 Flyers got a hit last night in the offensive action.
Cooper Bartholomew had 2 hits, 3 RBIs and two doubles putting on a show for the home crowd.
Boston Vest had two hits.
Logan Leavitt and Ridge Erickson tied Bartholomew’s runs batted in with three a piece, both on one hit.
Ladanian Gutierrez and Isaiah Crosby had Cottonwoods two hits.
The Flyers will look to close this one out today at 1:00, while Cottonwood looks for an answerback.
#8 RIDGELINE RIVERHAWKS VS #9 PROVO BULLDOGS
The 8 Vs 9 matchup surprisingly wasn’t the closest of the night.
Coming off a series in the regionals where Provo didn’t allow a single run against Hillcrest, the Riverhawks proved to be a more difficult test.
Despite both teams having 8 hits, Ridgeline made the most of theirs and didn’t put up a single error enroute to a 7-2 win for Game 1.
Scoring in bursts, The Riverhawks put up three in the first and four in the third and never looked back.
Both of Provo’s runs came in the 3rd to make it 3-2 at one point.
Trey Purser of Ridgeline had 3 knocks and a double.
5 other Riverhawks had a hit with Easton Hammond and Bode Hansen pushing out two RBIs apiece.
Hansen was also the ace of the night throwing 4 strikeouts.
Logan Brinkerhoff paced the Bulldogs with three hits and a double himself to rival Purser.
Milo Rhineer had two hits and one of the RBIs for Provo.
Game 2 goes down at 1:00 today.
#5 BEAR RIVER BEARS VS #12 MOUNTAIN CREST MUSTANGS
Bear River is now 3-1 against region foe Mountain Crest this season after a 7-2 win to open game 1 in Garland.
A 2-2 game headed into the third would see the Bears go on an unanswered 5-0 run through the 3rd and 4th and never look back.
Degan Rigby got the win for the Bears from the mound with 6 strikeouts to 3 hits against only giving up 2 runs (neither earned.)
Rigby also went 2/4 with 2 hits and 2 RBIs to lead Bear River from the batter’s box.
Talon Marble had 2 hits and a double and Brooks Dollinger’s one hit and 2 RBIs contributed to the win.
The Mustangs three hits were split between Maxwell Hornsby, Luke Palmer and Brooks Bell.
Bear River seeks to outhit (10-3) and make less mistakes (4-2 error count) than Mountain Crest one more time this season to close out their foes from Hyrum.
It takes place at 1:00 PM.
#2 SNOW CANYON WARRIORS VS #18 MOUNTAIN VIEW BRUINS
The Warriors flexed their muscle, with 20 hits for 20 runs scored in a 20-0 shutout to open up game one.
In 5 innings, Snow Canyon blasted three home runs.
Andrew Lyon, Tank Kelly and Ryder Harrison all sent it out of play, responsible for 11 RBIs combined.
Crew Secrist didn’t go deep like the others but put up three runs batted in on three hits.
Damon Ence had a three hit performance himself and 2 runs scored going 3 of 4.
In short, 11 different Warriors had a hit, whereas Mountain View had three as a team.
Jackson Kirby tossed 6 K’s and only had to face don 18 batters from the bump.
The Bruins have yet to enter any stats on MaxPreps.
The Warriors hope to keep that offensive explosion stoked headed into game #2 today at 1:00.
#3 TIMPANAGOS TIMBERWOLVES VS #14 STANSBURY STALLIONS
Somehow, someway, it wasn’t Snow Canyon’s 20 runs that led all teams in the Super Regionals first games.
The Timberwolves decided to top that mark with a 21-2 drubbing of Stansbury.
It wasn’t the homerun explosion witnessed at Snow Canyon, but a mix of poking the ball in tough spot after tough spot as Stansbury had no rebuttal to Timpanogos 14 hits.
Three Timberwolves had 4 RBIs in Brighton Tate, Luke Livingston and Kayden Harding.
Tate had three knocks; the others posted two.
Tyler Hunter had three runs batted in with two hits.
Stansbury’s two runs didn’t happen until the 4th as Livingston, Tyten Day and starter, Chase Riggs tossed 8 Ks for Timpanogos.
Noah Nunley and Xaviah Patch had the Stallions two hits and recorded both runs scored.
Game #2 takes place at 1:00 today at THS.
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