ST. GEORGE — The 4A state baseball tournament has gone “according to chalk” and the top three seeds in bracket play, all from Region 10, are the only teams still competing after three full days of games.
No. 1 Snow Canyon beat Mountain Crest twice and Bear River once to advance to the championship series, starting Friday night in game 1 at 7 p.m. on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem.
Meanwhile, No. 2 Crimson Cliffs and No. 3 Dixie meet Thursday night at 7 p.m. at UVU with the winner advancing to play Snow Canyon for the 4A state championship. The loser goes back home to St. George.
Snow Canyon coach Reed Secrist told St. George News that Dixie and Crimson Cliffs both offer a difficult challenge for the Warriors.
“Both those teams are different in terms of how they can challenge us, but we always expect the same thing from both,” Secrist said. “They’re well-coached, solid teams and we better come ready to play on Friday night.”
Follow continuous coverage of the 4A state tournament in St. George News and stream the games live at The Fan Sports Network.
Following are recaps of bracket play games from Wednesday in Orem.
Snow Canyon 9, Mountain Crest 8
The comeback kids at Snow Canyon did it again.
Down 8-2 against Mountain Crest at one point, the Warriors rallied late and roared back to beat the Mustangs, locking up a day off and a berth in the state championship series.
It was the third time in as many days that Snow Canyon (23-5) fell behind early before battling back to win at the end.
Reached by telephone after the game, Snow Canyon coach Reed Secrist said that before the tournament started he definitely did not tell his guys to be so dramatic.
“It’s been three of the craziest games that I’ve ever coached,” he said. “And to have it be in the state tournament, it’s just been great. I’ll take two more.”
Snow Canyon’s route to the state championship has thus far been a roller coaster ride, and all three victories were of the come-from-behind variety.
Ryder Harrison hit a two-run homerun in the bottom of the seventh to walk-off Bear River.
Sam Lindsey belted a go-ahead two-run triple in the bottom of the sixth the next night to beat Mountain Crest.
And then in the rematch against Mountain Crest Wednesday night, Hayden Smith’s RBI single tied the game and then Damon Ence’s RBI single put Snow Canyon ahead for the first time 9-8 in the bottom of the sixth.
“When you’re down 8-2, you need strings of hits with that last guy putting an exclamation point on it, and tonight it was Smith,” Secrist said. Smith finished with three hits and four RBI.
“The guys just battled one pitch at a time, every at-bat and we got back into the game,” Secrist said.
Warriors junior Jackson Kirby pitched a rocky seventh inning on the hill to pick up his second save in three games at state.
“He’s done great,” Secrist said. “We knew we could get him in there sometime and he got it done. Somehow, someway.”
Ence finished with two RBI for the Warriors, as did Ledger Shipp.
Kyson Goates started for Snow Canyon and worked three innings. He was relieved by Andrew Lyon, who also worked three frames before handing the ball to Kirby for the seventh.
Crimson Cliffs 10, Dixie 5
The Mustangs won their third consecutive game – and second in one day – after Monday’s opening-round loss to Green Canyon sent them to the loser’s bracket.
Crimson Cliffs (23-4) set up Thursday night’s do-or-die game with Dixie (20-8) behind a strong pitching effort from ace Aaron Morris and 13 hits from their bats.
Trey Evans hit an RBI double in the first inning and Crimson Cliffs plated five more runs in the second frame to put Dixie in a 6-0 hole early.
The Flyers responded with three runs in the bottom of the second but would get no closer as Crimson kept its foot on the gas.
Evans led the Crimson hit parade with three knocks including a double and a triple. He drove in three runs for the winners.
Ty Maynard contributed two RBI for Crimson’s cause and senior shortstop Petey Soto was all over the stat sheet with a single, a double, two RBI and four runs scored.
Morris efficiently scattered six Dixie hits for five runs over his 5.1 innings of work. He walked two Flyers and struck out six others.
Fehi Faonelua brought the curtain down for Crimson, working the final 1.2 innings on the mound. He finished with one walk and one strikeout.
Braxton Yates had two hits and three RBI for the Flyers. Logan Leavitt finished with two knocks and one RBI and Cayson Bell also drove in a run for Dixie’s cause.
Crimson Cliffs 11, Green Canyon 1
The Mustangs avenged their upset loss to the Wolves on Monday with a convincing victory to stay alive in the tournament on Wednesday.
Senior Beau Sampson pitched the win for Crimson, getting relief from freshman Mcray Cottam at the end.
After Tate Maynard’s sacrifice fly made it 1-0 in the second, Crimson Cliffs broke the game open with an explosive 8-run burst in the third inning.
Jayger Baldwin started things off with a single. Ty Maynard was hit by a pitch and Kyler Skinner jumped in at first base as a safety runner.
After Petey Soto popped out, Trey Evans got his first hit since coming back from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the lineup for the entire regular season.
Evans lined a shot off the wall for a stand-up double and both runners scored. Brexten Starley followed with his RBI double and kept the inning going.
After Coleman Bobb relieved Green Canyon starter Jensen, McKay Wright crushed a single that scored two more Mustangs.
Wright was picked off at first base for the second out, but Tate Maynard was hit by a pitch and Steele Barben singled to get another threat working for Crimson Cliffs.
Baldwin came back to the plate, batting for the second time in the frame, and was promptly hit by a pitch to load the bases.
A wild pitch scored another Crimson run and then Ty Maynard hit an RBI single.
Starley would go on to strike out with the bases loaded to end the frame, but the damage was done and Crimson led for good 9-0 after three innings of play.
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