ST. GEORGE — The baseball game between Snow Canyon and Dixie at Flyer Field Tuesday night was everything a matchup between the top two teams in 4A is supposed to be.

And then some.

Snow Canyon came from behind to beat the Flyers 4-2, winning the Region 9 championship with one game remaining in the regular season.

“This is what we knew we could do all year,” Snow Canyon senior Kyson Goates told St. George News after pitching five strong innings to keep the potent Dixie bats at bay.

Senior Talan Kelly pitched the final two frames for the save.

“We beared down,” Goates added. “Talan came in at the end and we had some great at-bats to just get it done and we knew we could.”

Goates yielded two runs and scattered five hits in his outing, walking one batter and striking out three.

“I was able to find the zone at times, and when I was unfortunate enough to put guys on base my defense backed me up,” he said. “I was fortunate to throw enough strikes to keep us in the game.”

Dixie starting pitcher Braxton Yates matched Goates pitch for pitch. The senior lefty got around a first-inning walk with a strikeout, ground out and pop fly.

Goates walked Dixie catcher Ridge Erickson in the bottom of the frame, but erased him with a 6-4-3 double play and then retired the Flyers with a fly ball.

Yates sandwiched a double to Snow Canyon’s Kelly around two strikeouts and a fly out in the top of the second.

Goates answered in the bottom of the inning, yielding a single to Dixie’s Logan Leavitt but retiring the next three batters and the game remained scoreless.

Corbin Hafen led off the Snow Canyon third with a bouncer over third baseman Leavitt’s head. But Yates remained unscathed with the help of a double play.

Dixie finally broke through in the bottom of the third after Yates belted an RBI single, but Goates limited the damage and the Warriors trailed 1-0.

Snow Canyon threatened at the top of the fourth, but the Flyers got out of the jam with a nicely turned 4-6-3 double play.

Goates set the Flyers down in order in the bottom of the fourth with a foul out, pop fly and a strikeout.

Snow Canyon loaded the bases in the top of the fifth but only scored once after Damon Ence hit an RBI single that tied the game 1-1.

Dixie came right back and took a 2-1 lead after a sacrifice fly off the bat of Boston Vest in the bottom of the fifth.

The pivotal sixth inning began when Snow Canyon’s Crew Secrist laced a lead-off single to right field. Hayden Smith then crushed a deep ball to the left-field corner.

Secrist attempted to score from first base on the play. Dixie’s relay from outfield to infield was perfect but the relay from infield to home pulled Erickson off the plate.

Erickson collected the ball and was able to apply the tag. Secrist dove head-first in a very close play at the plate, and the umpire ruled him safe for the tying run.

Dixie coach Danny Ipson vigorously debated the call with the home plate umpire, who then held a discussion with the field umpire. The safe call was upheld.

“I don’t agree with the call,” Ipson told St. George News. “There was a part of the call that he told me while I was at the plate that just doesn’t make sense to me.”

“For that big a play to come down at that point in time, to make that call, I just don’t agree with it,” Ipson added. “That’s all I got.”

Ipson brought Leavitt in to relieve Yates at that point, tied 2-2 with one Warriors runner on base.

Leavitt appeared to have footing issues on the mound. 

Darius Henderson walked and then Snow Canyon’s Andrew Lyon brought home the go-ahead run when he beat out an infield single.

A fielder’s choice allowed Snow Canyon’s third tally of the inning and provided the final score.

Kelly flamed five strikeouts in the final two innings and the deflated Flyers never regained any momentum.

“That’s on me. I shouldn’t have got as worked up as a did,” Ipson said. “That’s a lot of work that we put in, to be able to get to that point. But I’ve got to be better and that’s on me. Our guys didn’t rally behind it and I take responsibility for that.”

Even with the Region 9 title decided, Friday’s rematch between these ballclubs means a great deal for the Ratings Percentage Index, used to determine 4A playoff seedings.

Going into the game, Dixie was No. 1 in RPI while Snow Canyon was right behind at No. 2.

“We’re going to be working towards RPI and where that shakes out, based on that game, is going to be important,” Ipson said. “From here on out we just want to battle and do a better job.”

The Flyers and Warriors rematch Friday night at Snow Canyon at 7:30 p.m.

Desert Hills 15, Pine View 5

At Desert Hills Tuesday night, the Thunder put up a 10-spot in the bottom of the second inning and never looked back in the big win.

Sophomore Hoyt Atkin did the bulk of the work on the mound for Desert Hills, tossing 3.1 innings and surrendering five runs, two of them unearned. Atkin gave up four hits, walked five Panthers and struck out four in the win.

At the plate, Thunder bats boomed out 10 hits for the victory. Jaxton Tolman, Harmon Skeene and Haigen Reed provided two hits apiece.

Skeene smacked a triple and Tolman and Reed each accounted for two RBIs for the winners.

Senior Cooper Cluff clubbed a single for three RBIs and Beau Wall and Haigen Reed both accounted for two Thunder RBIs.

Pine View produced four hits in the setback. Tristen Sylvester and Andrew Shakespeare each hit a double while Daxton Chase and Cash Sisneros both singled.

Shakespeare and Kyson Milne each collected an RBI in the defeat.

The same two teams rematch Friday night at Pine View at 7:30 p.m.

Cedar 11, Hurricane 4

At Cedar on Tuesday afternoon, the Reds picked up their first Region 9 win of the season.

Cedar scored first when Jaxon Burgess singled in the bottom of the second, bringing in Colter Bunnell, who’d reached base on a fielding error.

The Reds added another run in the third when Gavin Mackert reached first on an error, scoring Caleb Paule. Paule was a courtesy runner for Jacob Boyer, who’d led off the inning with a single.

In the fourth inning, Cedar’s Ridge Leeder singled home two more runs, giving the Reds a 4-0 cushion.

Hurricane’s offense came to life in the top of the fifth, as the Tigers belted five hits and scored four runs to tie the game 4-4. 

Zane Staley capped off the rally with a two-run single, at which point relief pitcher Parker Johnson took the mound for Cedar, relieving starter Koden Lunt.

Although the first two batters Johnson faced hit a double and got hit by a pitch on full count, Johnson bounced back to retire the next two batters (on a strikeout and a fielder’s choice), ending the inning with no further damage done.

In the bottom of the fifth, it was Cedar’s turn to rally, as the Reds strung together six hits, with a walk, sacrifice bunt and a hit-by-pitch mixed in. When the dust settled, the Reds owned a commanding 11-4 lead.

Payton Ludlow brought in the first two runs of the inning on a single. Then shortstop Cody Nash hit a bases-loaded double to bring in the final three runs. Nash was thrown out at third on the play.

Johnson picked up the win on the mound, despite pitching only one inning (Nash came in as Cedar’s closer for the final 1.2 innings).

Cedar finished the game with 14 hits as a team, including three apiece by Burgess and Krew Giles.

Hurricane starter John Raddatz, who pitched the first five innings, took the loss for the Tigers.

The Reds and Tigers rematch in Hurricane Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

– written by Jeff Richards  

Region 9 baseball standings (region, overall) as of April 24:

1. Snow Canyon  11-0, 19-3
2. Dixie  9-2, 21-3
3. Desert Hills  7-4, 16-8
4. Crimson Cliffs  7-5, 14-8
5. Pine View  4-7, 14-10
6. Cedar  1-10, 6-18
7. Hurricane  0-11, 5-13

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