High school baseball: Canyon View wins first state championship in school history

No. 1 Canyon View got the victory in Game 2 of the 3A state championship best of three series on Saturday, defeating No. 2 Juab 7-4 to give the school its first ever baseball state championship.

A 4-run second inning propelled Canyon View to the title clinching win. As it did in Game 1, Canyon View continued to punish Juab for its errors in the field Saturday. The Wasps committed three errors in Game 2 and eight total in the series.

Brady Anderson led the way for Canyon View both at the plate and on the mound. Not only did he go 3 for 3 and drive in two runs, but he also pitched six quality innings, striking out four.

“We’ve been so close so many times. To be able to come through, it’s really special,” said Canyon View head coach Jason Jacobsen.

“I think about the previous players and all of the teams that we’ve had before and how close they came, but to watch these kids come up so clutch all year and especially this week was just fun to watch.”

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Canyon View briefly fell behind, as Juab got on the scoreboard first with an RBI single by Jimmy Larsen in the top of the second inning. Like Canyon View has done so many times throughout the course of the tournament though, it didn’t wait long to answer.

The Falcons scored four runs in the bottom of the second, and though Juab tied it up at 4-4 in the top of the third with three runs, the Wasps were held scoreless the rest of the way as Anderson settled in.

“Brady really settled in as the game went on,” Jacobsen said. “I think the fourth, fifth and sixth innings he was kind of high on pitches but he really settled in and just went after them.

“We got them to hit balls straight at us, and our defense has been great all year. We have a lot of returners that have been playing a lot of games and our defense and pitching has carried us all year.”

The Falcons led 7-4 in the top of the seventh, but after giving up a single, Jacobsen decided to pull Anderson and turned to the ball over to CJ McClellan.

Knowing what was at the stake and the task at hand, McClellan was ready to get the job done and he proceeded to strike out his first batter and then induced a title clinching double play to end the game.

“We talked about it at the very first of the season that ‘Hey, we’re pretty talented, but we have got to come together.’ The team chemistry had to get better,” said Jacobsen.

“Not to say we’ve been bad but these kids love each other and they go to battle with each other and I think that’s a good quality to have.”