SPANISH FORK — The Cedar High Redmen are in the most enviable position possible for the state 3A playoffs. The team snapped Carbon's 17-game winning streak Friday, beating the Dinos 7-4.
The win places Cedar in the finals of the state tournament, and if anyone else wants the title, they are going to have to beat the Redmen twice in one day.
With the double-elimination format, Cedar is the lone team without a loss. That means the winner of the Bear River-Carbon game that takes place today at 9 a.m., would have to beat Cedar twice to take away the title.
"This is the position we wanted to be in all year," said coach Steve Rollo. "We've been fortunate to put ourselves here. When we met before the season started, we said we wanted to win a region title (which the team accomplished), and then get to the finals with a chance to win."
The Redmen have relied on their pitching and defense all year, and especially their two "big guns" of Jeff Kupfer and Braden Yardley on the mound. The two have an ERA of just over one for the year. Kupfer did the job on Thursday, then it was Yardley's turn to carry the torch.
Although not his best performance of the season, Yardley did enough to get the victory. "Yardley did not have his best stuff. That is the most hits he has given up all year, but he battled," said Rollo.
He was forced to dig deep after Carbon took an early lead in the third inning. Chase Julian singled to get things started, and Chris Hatch drew a walk. A rare fielding error by Cedar allowed Julian to score, and Troy Grundy singled in another run to put the Dinos on top.
Cedar answered in the bottom of the inning. Marty Sims doubled to lead off, and Kaylon Pickett hit an RBI single to get the Redmen on the board. Pickett scored on one of Carbon's three errors, and the teams got a fresh start after three innings of play.
The turning point came in the bottom of the fourth when Cedar put a couple of runners on the base pads. "We had practiced situations where we got runners on first and third, and it put some real pressure on them," Rollo said. The Redmen scored three in the inning on RBIs from Sims, Pickett and Shawn Slaugh.
Carbon scored twice in the fifth on RBIs from Grundy and starting pitcher Adam Martinez, but Cedar countered with two runs of its own on another error and an RBI single by Jordan Wood.
Yardley would shut out the Dinos the rest of the way.
"I was a little tense at first because so much was on the line, but in the later innings I kind of settled down and played better," said Yardley of his performance.
Coach Rollo knows his team is in control, and he attributes that to the attention to detail his team has: "If we make a mistake, we (coaches) only have to tell the players one time and they don't do it again. It is the little things that win close games, and our kids have been doing those."
Cedar will face the winner of the Bear River-Carbon game today at 11:30 a.m. in Spanish Fork complex. Should the Redmen happen to lose, the two teams would play again one-half hour following the end of the first game.
In other 3A tournament games:
CANYON VIEW 3, WASATCH 1: Matt Platt pitched a complete-game, four-hitter against the Wasps to get the win. Dallin Staheli scored all three runs.
BEAR RIVER 13, DIXIE 3: Mitch Ramsdell picked up the win on the mound, and Tyrell Marble pounded two home runs to keep the Bears' title hopes alive.
BEAR RIVER 4, CANYON VIEW 1: Matt Morrison threw a three-hit complete game. Marcus Hanley hit an RBI triple to lead the offense as the Bears will play Carbon for the chance to play in the finals.
E-mail: mblack@desnews.com