SANDY — The fact that Bingham had 14 plate appearances in the top half of the second inning during its Friday matchup with Jordan tells all that needs to be known about that frame.
Trailing 6-2, Bingham shredded the Beetdiggers' pitching, pounding out eight hits and scoring nine runs. The Miners cruised from there for a 20-10 Region 2 victory while maintaining third place at 6-3. Jordan fell to 5-5.
On the heels of their 2003 5A state championship, the Miners have struggled in 2004 to fill the massive shoes left by MVP pitcher Andy Jangard and All-State selections Bret Boyd, Paul Warne, Casey Gale and Jared Roberts. Bingham coach Joey Sato said Friday's contest marked the first time all year that his team responded to adversity with success.
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In the bottom half of the first inning, Jordan batted through the lineup and scored six runs, including a three-run home run by Adam Roberts. The Miners responded with offensive fireworks of their own in the next inning.
"That was the first time this year we've been able to get hits (like that)," Sato said.
Shortstop Tyler Christensen started things off. Christensen fought off a Jon Pope pitch and lifted the ball into right field for a bloop single. Bingham reached base several times via bloop hits, infield singles and balls that managed to roll out of the infield.
"We did have some good at-bats," Sato said. "We also had a couple of cheap ones. We were fortunate that we got them."
The only extra-base hit of the second inning came in Christensen's second at-bat when the senior smoked a pitch into deep left-center field. Christensen went 2-for-3 for the game and scored three runs.
After struggling in the first inning, Bingham's Tyler Bray settled down and pitched three solid innings to earn the win. Bray has been one of the pitchers who has tried to fill the void left by Jangard.
"Tyler has competed very well," Sato said. "It's very difficult (to replace Jangard) because our kids played behind him. This year, we've tried to come up with someone like him. Tyler has been one of those guys."
Without a clear-cut ace on his staff, Sato has relied on four pitchers to fill the void. Zach Druce, Tyler Wartman and Jeff McDonald have also been in the mix.
"We have four guys that can go the whole game," Christensen said.
Playing its third game in five days, Jordan struggled to find consistent pitching. In a five-inning contest, the Beetdiggers used six pitchers.
"We ran out of gas," Jordan coach Mary Kay Amicone said. "We don't have the same (pitching) depth as Bingham."
In other prep baseball games Friday:
REGION 2
HILLCREST 8, COPPER HILLS 5:Zane Beadles thew six strong innings to lead the Huskies over the Grizzlies. Mark Pugh went 2-for-3 for the Huskies.
ALTA 10, WEST JORDAN 0:Brandon Ralph blasted a three-run homer in the first inning, followed by a solo blast in the third to propel the Hawks over the Jaguars. Mark Urry pitched the five-inning complete-game, scattering two hits, to get the win.
RIVERTON 12, BRIGHTON 1:Nick Gumeson and Chad Himmer went 3-for-3 while Brock Nordberg went 2-for-2 to lead Riverton over Brighton. Himmer added three RBIs while Nordberg plated two runs and also picked up the win for the Silverwolves.
REGION 3
TAYLORSVILLE 14, GRANGER 3:Trevor Lyon allowed three earned runs in five innings while striking out three Granger batters to get the win. Todd Morlock had two hits and four RBIs to lead the Taylorsville offense.
REGION 5
CYPRUS 12, HIGHLAND 2:Tyler Jones went 3-for-3 from the plate with two RBIs to lead the Cyprus offense while pitcher Joe Ellis struck out eight in holding Highland to two hits.
EAST 10, WOODS CROSS 0: Making his first varsity start, East's Nick Lund needed just 50 pitches to throw a three-hit shutout and get the win over visiting Woods Cross. The Leopards scored five in the first to give Lund all the cushion he needed.
MURRAY 13, OLYMPUS 7:Bryce Herrera went 3-for-4 and scored three runs to lead the Spartons past Olympus.
REGION 7
TIMPANOGOS 9, LONE PEAK 5: Timpanogos scored nine runs on eight hits to beat Lone Peak and improve to 9-1 on the season in region play.
PLEASANT GROVE 8, MOUNTAIN VIEW 4:Chris King's fifth-inning grand slam, along with Jordan Smith's three-run homer in the same inning led the Vikings to the important victory over the Bruins.
REGION 8
DELTA 6, EMERY 5:Jake Bussari's three-run home run in the fifth inning sparked a five-run inning as the Rabbits came from behind to defeat the Spartans. Bussari also pitched the final four innings to get the win for Delta.
CARBON 16, LEHI 3: Lehi jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning but Carbon came back to score three runs in the second, four runs in third, and six runs in the fourth inning to earn the win and Region 8 crown.
REGION 9
CANYON VIEW 33, HURRICANE 13:Dallin Staheli had a monster afternoon, hitting 4-for-5 from the plate with 10 RBIs to lead Canyon View over Hurricane. Staheli hit a double and two home runs. He also threw four innings to earn the win.
CEDAR 4, PINE VIEW 3: The Redmen outlasted the Panthers at Pine View. Cedar scored a single run in the top of the seventh and held off a late rally by the home team to get the win.
SNOW CANYON 4, DIXIE 2: The Warriors handed the Flyers their first region loss thanks in large part to inning-ending double plays in the fifth and seventh innings.
REGION 10
WASATCH 9, GRANITE 8:Trevor Sorensen's single in the bottom of the eighth inning drove in the winning run and gave the Wasps a Region 10 win over Granite. Sorensen went 2-for-5 with four RBIs in the contest.
REGION 12
SOUTH SEVIER 6, NORTH SEVIER 5: In the bottom of the seventh inning Wade Mecham singled in the winning run to give South Sevier the one-run win over North Sevier. Mecham went 2-for-2 with two RBIs. Carson Christensen earned the win pitching seven strong innings.
REGION 13
MILLARD 3, MONTICELLO 2: In Game 1 of the doubleheader, Millard scored two runs in the first and one in the second to edge the Buckaroos.
MONTICELLO 8, MILLARD 7: In Game 2 Monticello exacted revenge on Millard with a one run win. Linc Pehrson pitched a complete game striking out five in seven innings.
PAROWAN 8, ENTERPRISE 1:Trevor Smith belted out two doubles, the only extra-base hits of the game, to lead the Rams past the Wolves.
REGION 14
JUAB 15, ROWLAND HALL 0:Colby Park and Rex Memmott combined to drive in five runs, while Justin Jones added three hits to lead the Wasps to the victory.
JUAN DIEGO 9, GRAND 1:Craig Lanzoratta scattered four hits over six innings to earn the win for Juan Diego over the Devils.
GRAND 3, JUAN DIEGO 2:Chris Brewer tossed a two hitter to give Grand a victory over the Eagles in the opening game of a double-header.
NORTH SUMMIT 5, ALTAMONT 2: Cecil Seright had 13 strikeouts to propel North Summit to victory over Altamont. R. Lindsay countered with 10 strikeouts but gave up five runs and took the loss.
NONREGION
GRANTSVILLE 8, NORTH SANPETE 2: Pitcher Kirk Fawson had eight strikeouts allowing only two runs in the complete game win. Heath Bleazard led the Grantsville going two for four with a double.
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