The 6A baseball state tournament continues on Monday with four bracket play games at UVU.
Lehi and Davis opened things up with wins in the first two games.
This story will be updated.
Davis 8, Herriman 2
The Davis Darts couldn’t have asked for a better opening game on Monday of bracket play in the 5A state tournament.
At the plate, all but two starters got a hit as collectively Davis is seeing the ball well at this point in the season. Perhaps more importantly though, starting pitcher Lincoln Green was masterful on the mound going four innings and keeping his pitch count below 60 pitches as No. 3 Davis rolled past No. 11 Herriman 8-2 at UVU.
In only throwing 53 pitches, Green will be available to pitch again on just one day’s rest. Had he thrown over 65 pitches he would’ve been required to rest at least two days before he could take the mound again.
Equally as important, all three relievers pitched just one inning and kept their pitch count under 35, making them available to throw again on Tuesday when the Darts take on No. 10 seed and defending state champion Lehi in a winners’ bracket game at 4:30 p.m.
Green struck out three batters in the win, while the trio of relievers also struck out three batters.
“Pitching went exactly how we planned it saving Wally Grant for tomorrow. Lincoln Green gave us everything we asked, four great innings no runs and under 65 pitches threw a ton of strikes and kept Herriman off balance,” said Davis coach Josh Godfrey. “Then our relief all came in and did their jobs keeping the lead and keeping their pitch count all below 30 pitches.”
Godfrey also praised his pitching coach for calling a great game.
Davis struck quickly in the bottom of the first inning, taking a 2-0 lead highlighted by an RBI single from Wally Grant.
In the fourth inning, the Darts doubled the lead to 4-0 as junior No. 9 hitter Tyson Baggett hit the first varsity home run of his career on a low line drive over the short right field fence at UCCU Ballpark.
“Tyson has a ton of power for a smaller athlete. He’s a big-time stud football player whose is very fast but has hit the weight room hard over the last two years and hits them out in BP and when he stays back on it that’s the result. Great way to make a statement for your first home run,” said Godfrey.
Davis led 5-0 after five, but Herriman scored twice in the top of the sixth to seemingly keep within striking distance. Ken Thomas’ double cut the lead to 5-1, but the Mustangs missed out on a chance to do much more damage after loading the bases two batters later with no outs.
Reliever Caymen Sanchez got out of the job with a strikeout, a sac fly and then a base-running mistake for the third out at third base.
Carter Garrett tripled in two runs in the bottom of the sixth to push the lead back to 8-2 to cap the near-perfect day at the park for the Darts.
Lehi 8, Pleasant Grove 2
It would have been understandable for TJ Peterson to be a bit anxious ahead of Monday morning’s 6A baseball state tournament game against higher-seed Pleasant Grove.
After all, the last time the Lehi pitcher got the start against Pleasant Grove three weeks ago, he got chased in just two innings after giving up five runs and walking two batters in a wild game that Lehi came back to win 15-10.
But every day is a new day on the diamond, and that’s exactly how Peterson pitched.
The senior struck out seven and only allowed six hits over six innings — walking just one — as No. 10 seed Lehi took care of business against No. 2 seed Pleasant Grove 8-2 on Monday in the first game of 6A bracket play at UVU.
“He gamed up. He is a gamer, and he just got after it right from the start. I was really proud of him. On shorter rest because of our game getting pushed back to Thursday (last week), I was pretty pleased with how he pitched. Just got after it and commanded the strike zone really and kept the pressure on them,” said Lehi coach Eric Madsen.
While Peterson’s fortunes changed for the better from his last time out against Pleasant Grove, so did Keaton Nordick’s — but not the way he wanted.
After the Pleasant Grove ace struck out 11 in a win over Lehi earlier this season, he struggled with his command Monday, walking three and hitting three more as he only lasted 3 2/3 innings in the loss.
“We’ve seen him, knew he’s very talented and he still showed it. He didn’t have the same stuff he had last time against us, but I thought our guys did a good job of laying off that pitch and hanging in there. They got hit where before we kind of got out of the way. So I was happy with the way our guys approached it,” said Madsen.
Three weeks after striking out 11 Lehi batters, Nordick only recorded two Ks on Monday.
Nordick struggled early, putting four batters on base in the first inning, but Lehi didn’t capitalize, scoring just once.
In the second, however, Lehi tagged him with four straight singles, scoring three runs and opening up a 4-0 lead.
Boston Drakulich, Dawson Brown and Brandon Manookin all singled in runs in the big second inning. Brown finished the game 2 for 4 for the Pioneers while No. 7 hitter Ozzie Williams had a great game as well going 2 for 5 with a double, triple and two RBIs.
Williams’ two-run double in the top of the sixth pushed Lehi’s lead to 7-2 after Pleasant Grove cut made it a 5-2 game in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double from Drew Smith.
“Any day can be your day. That’s all it really is, you just keep playing and hope that it goes your way,” said Madsen, whose team is the defending 6A state champ heading into the playoffs.
He hopes that experience helps his team string together several more wins this week at UVU in pursuit of the repeat state championship after a so-so regular season with just a 13-12 record.
“They know coming in, you just got to play and hope that it goes your way, that’s really what it is. And just get after it and see what happens,” said Madsen.
A fast start by top seeded American Fork propelled them to victory over No. 9 Bingham in bracket play of the 6A tournament 7-4.
American Fork got home runs from Bode Gaggero and Crew Ingersoll in the win.
It was Bingham who scored first, getting on the board in the top of the 1st inning on a hom erun by Kam Beck.
American Fork had no problem responding, immediately answering with 3 runs in the bottom of the of the inning.
American Fork kept the momentum going in the bottom of the 2nd inning, getting 2 runs on a Bode Gaggero bases loaded walk, and a sac fly by Cooper Jones.
The score was 5-1 in favor of American Fork when Beck blasted another home run to left field, this time scoring 2 runs to cut the deficit in half at 5-3.
Bingham had the perfect opportunity to try to get some runs in quick succession when they had the bases loaded in the top of the 4th with no outs.
However, a double play and a strikeout prevented Bingham from making any noise in the inning.
This would prove to be costly, and American Fork would make them pay in the following inning. A leadoff home run by CJ Mascaro and a run later in the inning gave American Fork some breathing room at 7-3.
“It was some great situational defense in the 4th inning. We did a really good job of limiting the damage today. We have to put ourselves in better spots, but overall, I am proud that we were able to make those plays in those situations,” said American Fork head coach Jarod Ingersoll.
Bingham tried to cut into the lead once again in the top of the 5th inning on a RBI single by Mason Marti but couldn’t do anything else after that.
With 2 on in the top of the 7th inning, Bingham had one last chance to steal the victory but it wasn’t meant to be.
Ingersoll knows his team is going to have to tighten things both defensively and offensively if they want a chance to make a deep run in the tournament.
“Both teams came out ready to play and we did a good job of limiting the damage,” Ingersoll said. “There’s a couple of times where they loaded the bases up and we had some big defensive plays. We’re going to have to try to limit the freebies and play a little better defense, and not quite think so much on offense.”
Led by a memorable pitching performance by Rocky Downs on the mound and timely hitting by Bryce Moutneer at the plate, No. 5 Riverton got the better of No. 4 Mountain Ridge once again in another tight game between the two teams with Riverton coming away on top 3-1 in bracket play of the 5A baseball tournament.
It was a pitchers’ duel throughout the game, with Rocky Downs pitching a game he soon won’t forget. Downs pitched 6 2/3 innings, striking out an impressive 14 batters while giving up just 5 hits and walking none.
“I knew it was going to be another close game; they have a really talented team. We’ve just been preaching pretty much the whole year really that we have to win the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. Our guys executed when we needed them to, got big hits even though they weren’t the prettiest, but we got two runs late and it was just what we practiced all the time,” said Riverton head coach Nuho Kraja.
On the other side for American Fork, Grayson Riding had himself a strong pitching performance, throwing 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts and two runs given up.
Riverton struck first in the top of the third inning when Moutneer was able to draw a bases loaded walk to bring in the runner.
A leadoff home run by Cooper Goff in the bottom of the 4th inning saw Mountain Ridge square things up at one.
The game remained scoreless until the seventh inning, when Moutneer came through clutch again, breaking the tie with a bloop single to left field to bring in two runs.
Mountain Ridge was doing everything it could in the bottom of the inning to extend the game. They got the first two runners on base with no outs.
Reaching his pitch count limit, Downs left the game to a standing ovation from the Riverton crown with one out in the inning. Issac Jones entered the game and slammed the door shut, sealing the victory for his side.
“I think Rocky was fantastic. He’s one of the fiercest competitors that we have, and he was able to locate multiple pitches, up, down and out. He made it really tough for them,” said Kraja.