High school baseball: American Fork does something no other team has done this season in win over Pleasant Grove

American Fork piled on Pleasant Grove early in its 13-5 road victory over the Vikings Friday afternoon.

The Cavemen never trailed all game, handing their Region 3 rival a second straight defeat — the first time Pleasant Grove has dropped back to back games this season.

“Pleasant Grove’s a good team,” American Fork head coach Jarod Ingersoll said after the game. “(I’m) just proud of our guys and the way that they battled.”

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American Fork could not have gotten off to a better start, as it rattled off eight runs in the first inning. The Cavemen took advantage of four plunked batters, adding four hits and getting the Vikings’ first relief pitcher in the game with just one out.

“Our offense did a good job of being aggressive and keeping balls on a line,” Ingersoll said. “We had traffic and just played tough baseball.”

The Cavemen kept things rolling the rest of the game, adding runs in all but two innings. Ultimately, American Fork scored more runs on Pleasant Grove than any team has all season.

When asked how his team accomplished such a feat, Ingersoll said, “One through nine, putting balls hard in play and trying to limit the strikeout was a big important thing for us and our guys did a great job of that.”

In the end, only one American Fork batter struck out, making things difficult on the Vikings’ pitchers throughout the afternoon.

Not much went Pleasant Grove’s way, as it never cut the American Fork lead to fewer than five runs after the first inning, and got shut out in the final three innings.

The Vikings showed some life in the fourth though, getting the bases loaded with one out and ultimately scoring their last pair of runs for the day.

The contest marked a rubber match in the two teams’ three-game series as each beat the other 9-2 earlier in the week, but American Fork got the best of Pleasant Grove in the final two games with a flurry of runs.

“The first game, they did a really good job on us,” Ingersoll said. “We just made the adjustments just being ready to play and compete.”

Those adjustments not only earned the Cavemen two impressive wins, but also propelled them to first place in Region 3 just ahead of the Vikings, who entered the week with only one loss on the season.

American Fork continues to look forward following its win over Pleasant Grove, hoping bigger wins remain on the horizon.

“It’s a stepping stone for where we want to be,” Ingersoll said. “It was a battle every pitch of the way. (I) wouldn’t expect anything less and I’m just proud of the way our guys came out and got after it.”

The Cavemen will get after it again next week in another region series, this time against Skyridge beginning Tuesday.

Pleasant Grove will look to get back on track in its next series starting the same day against Lehi.