Orem’s baseball team has been on the short end of some close losses this season, especially late in the season. As a result, Luke Kimmel believes Orem’s No. 13 RPI seed heading into the playoffs was probably lower than it should’ve been.
“I feel like we got seeded pretty low for how good of a team we are,” said Kimmel.
With that in mind, Orem’s ace pitched with a little extra chip on his shoulder in the opening game of his team’s 5A third-round series at No. 4 Cottonwood on Thursday.
With a great blend of fastball, curveball and change-up, Kimmel had Cottonwood off balance most of the day, striking out eight and only allowing three hits in an impressive 4-1 victory.
“When you know you’re not supposed to win you play with more intensity ’cause you’ve got that chip on your shoulder,” said Kimmel.
Orem can close out the three-game series with a Game 2 win at Cottonwood on Friday, but the Colts will look to get their offense going to force a decisive third game. The winners advance to the championship rounds next week at SLCC.
Orem coach Carl Hermansen said the format change by the UHSAA makes this week’s series feel like a region series, and he likes the position his team is in heading into Friday.
“It just feels like a regular week,” he said.
Hermansen said Kimmel’s composure was the difference, even more impressive considering he’s just a sophomore.
“Luke’s been really good for us all year long. He’s had a couple tough luck breaks late in games, we haven’t gotten wins, but he’s been really good all year. The best thing about Luke is his composure,” said Hermansen.
Kimmel only allowed two hits through the first five innings, with his team leading 2-0. During a stretch, he retired 12 straight batters.
In the bottom of the sixth though, Cottonwood played small ball to cut the lead in half. Parker Burk led off the inning with a bunt single, and then moved to second on a first-pitch steal. That allowed Zachary Soran to move Burk to third with a sacrifice bunt.
Two batters later he scored on a sacrifice fly, with Cottonwood heading into the seventh only trailing 2-1.
“Luke (Kimmel)’s been really good for us all year long. He’s had a couple tough luck breaks late in games, we haven’t gotten wins, but he’s been really good all year. The best thing about Luke is his composure.” — Orem coach Carl Hermansen
In Orem’s half of the seventh it added a pair of insurance runs, certainly an unlucky situation for Cottonwood as starter CJ Slagowski struck out what would’ve been the final out. The ball got by the catcher, however, as Tanner Finch reached safely. A walk to leadoff hitter Kimmel loaded the bases, and then a Sawyer Slade infield single and resulting throwing error allowed Orem to score twice more pushing the lead to 4-1.
“It made my job so much easier,” said Kimmel.
In the bottom of the seventh, Kimmel struck out two of the four batters he faced to seal the win.
Prior to its opportunistic sixth inning, a couple of extra base hits in the second and third inning allowed Orem to get on the board first.
Hayden Hixson led off the second inning with a leadoff tripled that bounced awkwardly in front of Cottonwood’s right field and rolled all the way to the wall. One batter later Hixson scored on a sac fly from Trey Wilson.
An inning later, Taylor Gill ripped a two-out line drive over the right field fence for the 2-0 lead. Slagowski settled down after that and enjoyed three easy innings courtesy of some strong defensive play. It was nearly a fourth easy inning, but his curveball in the dirt in the seventh created some trouble. It made my job so much easier.