AMERICAN FORK — On a windy day in American Fork, the Jordan Beetdiggers used a nine-run fourth inning to come from behind and beat the Cavemen 10-5 Tuesday.
They rallied with only five hits in the inning, but got several men on base as they took advantage of three shaky American Fork pitchers.
"All we did was do what we had to do," said Jordan head coach Ron Anderson. "We got our bunts down, they didn't cover us a couple times on those bunts, and we just executed. We didn't hit the ball out of the ballpark. We just put the ball in play, and that is what this team will do."
Up until that point, Jordan had struggled to get anything going offensively as the Cavemen jumped out to a 3-0 lead after American Fork's Jake Murphy hit an RBI double in the bottom of the third inning.
But the defending state champs were able to weather the storm. "(American Fork) is an awesome team," Anderson said. "We kind of made a little bit of a statement with our young kids. We are way young but we made a statement that we can swing it and play with the big boys."
Starting pitcher Tyson Labrum continued to fight through American Fork's aggressive line-up, and didn't allow anything else until Murphy once again knocked in a run on a stand-up double in the bottom of the fifth.
The Beetdiggers brought in lefthander Terry Coyle to relieve Labrum and he finished up the job without giving up anything.
"(Labrum) is the seasoned veteran that we have as far as varsity experience," Anderson said. "I thought he threw a very good baseball game. He made a couple mistakes that hurt him but he fought through it. Then (Coyle) came in behind him and did a fabulous job."
Jordan catcher Kelton Caldwell went 2-for-3 on the day, with a double and two runs batted in.
Murphy, who went 2-for-4 with two RBI doubles led American Fork as teammate Andy Lewis went 2-for-4 with a double.
As the season continues coach Anderson just hopes that his young team will be able to keep fighting through adversity as they look to defend last year's title. "We have got a long ways to go but we are coming along," he said. "Anytime you get young kids winning against a quality program, they are going to be better baseball players. That is what we are trying to do."
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