It’s a tight race for the top of Region 2 with Bingham, Mountain Ridge, Riverton and Corner Canyon all still realistically in the region title hunt. The Miners suffered a narrow loss to Mountain Ridge on Tuesday as the Sentinels scored in the bottom of the extra inning to clinch a 3-2 win and even the region standings with Bingham.
Bingham got its revenge on Wednesday with a 7-5 home stand against the Sentinels to take sole possession of the top spot in Region 2. The Miners now control their own destiny in the region title race.
“They all know each other and they’ve known each other since they were just little kids,” said first-year Bingham head coach Beau Stoker. “So, they’ve grown up playing as friends and they put a little bit of extra pressure on themselves and they want to win. They look at the standings and we’re all near the top. It’s a tough region and to have them just come out and fight the way that they fought, play with the heart, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
While Bingham eventually clutched the win, it wasn’t pretty to start. The Sentinels got an early run with an RBI from Stockton Fowlks and while the Miners managed to match the early run, Mountain Ridge started to find some separation by capitalizing on Bingham’s mistakes.
The Miners struggled a bit at the pitching mound and Mountain Ridge got plenty of hitters on base. A sacrifice hit in the second inning and a single in the third from Brody Buck scored three runs as the Sentinels took a 5-2 lead.
“If we’re being honest I think we came out a little tight and that’s on me,” Stoker said. “Once they calmed down and once they realized it’s just a baseball game they went out there and did what they could do.”
Momentum flipped in favor of the Miners in the fifth inning as the defense fielded three quick outs and their hitters started to more consistently get on base. Bingham rallied with four consecutive RBI singles from Zach Sorenson, Bauer Williams, Dylan Frank and Bauer Jacobs.
Bingham held a 6-5 lead in the sixth inning, but the lead was quickly in danger as Mountain Ridge’s Buck hit a double and stole third with no outs.
The Miners needed to keep Buck away from home and Bingham’s Delton Cramer delivered with three consecutive strikeouts to keep Mountain Ridge scoreless in the sixth inning. It was a big defensive stand that continued to swing the momentum in favor of the Miners.
“Honestly, when they got the runner on base I was feeling nervous but I had to stay confident and I just knew I had to get ahead in the counts to compete,” Cramer said. “When I got the first two strikeouts, it was honestly electric. It felt so good and the last batter, I was just throwing everywhere at first, but then I started locking in.”
The Miner dugout exploded with cheers and they rushed to high-five Cramer as he walked back after throwing the third strike on the final strikeout. Bingham used the emotion to run up its lead to 7-5 with a sacrifice hit from Kam Beck.
“I love this team so much, it’s probably the most fun team we’ve had in my four years,” Cramer said. “It’s the loudest team I’ve been a part of in a long time and they’re just so electric. I love these boys. They know how to come back. They know how to fight and we came out with the W.”
Bingham cemented the win by keeping Mountain Ridge away from home in the seventh to earn the 7-5 home win. The win improves the Miners’ Region 2 record to 8-3. Mountain Ridge, Corner Canyon and Riverton are all tied for second in the Region with a 7-4 record.