TAYLORSVILLE — It is a rare occurrence to have an important game for a region battle between two state champions. Because of new alignment, that is exactly what happened Tuesday afternoon as last year's 2A state champion Juan Diego beat the 3A defending champs from Carbon 7-4.
"We want to win the region, and we knew that in order to do that we were going to have to beat a good Carbon team," said Juan Diego coach Steve Cramblitt. For four innings, it did not appear that the Soaring Eagle was going to get that much needed win. Carbon opened up a 3-1 lead after three innings. Aaron Sandoval led off the game with a triple, and Chase Julian knocked him in with a groundout down the first-base line. The Dinos capitalized in the third inning when both Sandoval and Julian scored on a two-RBI single from J.D. Sherman.
Juan Diego scored in the second inning on a Ben Velasquez RBI single, but that was the majority of the offense in the first four innings. But entering the fifth inning, the Soaring Eagle bats woke up. Joe Glavin and Jake Davies both began the inning with walks. One of three Carbon errors on the day led to the bases being loaded. Stephen Torres had the first RBI without taking the bat off his shoulder as he patiently drew a walk. Colton Reilly followed with the biggest hit of the game as he gave Juan Diego the lead with a two-RBI single. Corey Lever hit an RBI sacrifice-fly. Seth Dolar singled in a run and Velasquez ended the rally with a sacrifice squeeze-play to score the last Juan Diego run.
"We have been trying to learn mental toughness," Cramblitt said. "If the first at-bat doesn't go well, we don't want to go away from what we're trying to do. Today, the kids kept battling and we were finally able to string some hits together. We have struggled this season to put together some good at-bats in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. We've had a tendency not to do it, and that is the mental toughness we want."
While the offense found its punch, Trevor Reeves took over on the mound and quieted the Carbon bats. Reeves entered in relief in the fifth inning and allowed only one run on three hits while striking out three to get the win. He is one of only two seniors for the Soaring Eagle, and the player the team looks to in big situations.
"The center and end of the game is when you want a guy with experience," said Cramblitt. "That is when we like to bring him (Reeves) in."
Reeves did the job of calming the team and giving it a chance to rally to the win. Although one of the players with perhaps the best "stuff", he has only thrown in a handful of appearances so far this season.
"Trevor needed the work. People might think it is crazy to have a guy with that good an arm that has only thrown 11 innings, but that is what we need," Cramblitt said.
The win moves Juan Diego (7-5 overall and 4-1 region) into first place of Region 8 while Carbon (6-5, 3-2) falls to third.
E-mail: mblack@desnews.com