ST. GEORGE — More than half of the baseball teams from Region 9 advanced out of the super regional round in the 4A state tournament and will begin bracket play next Monday at Salt Lake Community College.

Four Region 9 teams played host and defeated their opponents in two games Thursday and Friday.

No. 1 seed Dixie swept Cottonwood, No. 2 Snow Canyon dispatched Mountain View, No. 4 Desert Hills handled Uintah and No. 7 Crimson Cliffs rallied to beat Juan Diego in super regional action.

Click here to see updated brackets in the ongoing 4A state baseball tournament.

Dixie 12, Cottonwood 0 | Dixie 8, Cottonwood 1

The Flyers played like the top-seeded team in the tournament and dominated the Colts in two games at Flyer Field.

Dixie senior pitchers Braxton Yates and James Lea combined to throw the shutout in Thursday night’s win.

Lefty Yates pitched three innings, allowed one hit, walked one and struck out three Colts batters. Lea hurled two frames, allowed one hit, walked none and struck out one.

Ridge Erickson paced the Flyers at the plate with his three-run home run. Cooper Bartholomew recorded two base hits and three RBIs and Boston Vest also had two knocks in the win.

Logan Leavitt smacked a double that plated three Dixie runs. Junior Carter Turley’s hit scored two more and Trace Franco chipped in for Dixie with a double and an RBI.

In Friday afternoon’s series-clincher, Dixie pitcher Jake Andreas improved to 6-2 on the season with the win.

Andreas sailed through six innings, yielding two hits and one run. The tall right-hander walked one batter and struck out five.

“I felt like Jake had good control,” Flyers coach Danny Ipson told St. George News. “We’ve been working with him to be able to get some outs earlier in the count, not go so deep in the count, and early in the game he was able to do that.”

Logan Leavitt pitched the seventh inning, ending the game with a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play. The Flyers got out of two other innings with double plays in the win.

“We work hard. We try to do our best working on that,” Ipson said. “These guys have been working hard all year long, trying to improve defensively.”

Dixie took advantage of six fielding errors by the Colts, plating three unearned runs in the contest.

The other Dixie tallies came from five solo RBIs recorded by Isaac Zepf, Vest, Yates, Turley and Erickson.

Dixie advanced to face No. 8 Ridgeline in Monday’s 4:30 p.m. game at Salt Lake Community College.

“We’re way confident. We’re excited and we’re ready to play,” Erickson said. “We’re going to play our best game every time.”

Snow Canyon 20, Mountain View 0 | Snow Canyon 9, Mountain View 6

The second-seeded team in the tournament swung some hot bats and quickly dismissed the Bruins.

Snow Canyon churned out 20 hits in Thursday night’s win. Eight different Warriors hit at least two knocks each, and three different Snow Canyon batters – Talan Kelly, Andrew Lyon and Ryder Harrison – homered for the home team. 

Lyon led the Warriors with five RBIs. Kelly drove in four runs and Harrison accounted for two RBIs in the win. Crew Secrist chipped in with three hits and three RBIs.

Senior Warriors pitcher Jackson Kirby enjoyed the generous run support even if he didn’t necessarily need it. 

Kirby tossed five innings of three-hit ball and kept the Bruins off the scoreboard. He walked one batter and struck out six.

“My slider was working, probably my best pitch today, and then later in the game I got my fastball to work,” Kirby told St. George News. “My approach is just to attack hitters. I really don’t want to walk guys, so just attack.”

The senior was making only his second appearance on the hill after an injury one week before the season’s first game. Kirby noted that he is 100 percent recovered.

“I feel good,” he said.

Mountain View made things a little more complicated on the Warriors in Friday’s contest, but Snow Canyon built up a comfortable lead for the win despite a four-run seventh inning for the visitors.

The Warriors plated two in the first inning, three in the second and four in the third frame to build a comfortable cushion.

Damon Ence was the big man at the plate for Snow Canyon, hitting a double and a home run to finish with five RBIs. Secrist got two more hits and drove in three for the winners.

Four different Snow Canyon pitchers – Kelly, Secrist, Lyon and Kyson Goates – threw at least one inning for the home team.

Makaio Swensen finished off the pitching duties with the last 2.2 innings of work. He allowed one hit and struck out three Bruins batters in that span.

Snow Canyon advanced to face a familiar foe in Monday’s bracket action at Salt Lake Community College.

The Warriors will take on two-time defending 4A state champion and Region 9 rival Crimson Cliffs in the first game of the day, scheduled for an 11 a.m. first pitch.

Desert Hills 4, Uintah 1 | Desert Hills 9, Uintah 4

The No. 4 seed Thunder dispatched the Utes twice at Thunder Field and advanced to bracket play.

After the visitors struck for a run in the top of the first inning on Thursday, Desert Hills came back with three in the bottom of the first and then one more insurance run in the bottom of the third for the victory.

Crew Christensen had two hits for Desert Hills and Harmon Skeen crushed a home run among his two hits and drove in two runs for the winners. Beau Wall chipped in with a hit and an RBI for the Thunder.

Hoyt Atkin pitched six innings for the win. He scattered four hits, yielded one run, walked two batters and struck out eight others.

The Thunder took a five-run lead after two innings during Friday’s game, then scored a four-spot in the fourth to secure the series.

Christensen and Skeen again did the damage with the bats for Desert Hills, each accounting for three RBIs. Stoakli Tate and Haigen Reed accounted for the other two RBIs.

Andrew Wiley did the bulk of the pitching, throwing five innings in the win. He allowed three runs off of four hits while walking none and striking out two.

The Thunder earned a matchup with Region 11’s Bear River in bracket play on Monday at Salt Lake Community College. Their first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Crimson Cliffs 5, Juan Diego 4 | Crimson Cliffs 7, Juan Diego 2

The No. 7 seed Mustangs began their pursuit of a rare trifecta of state championships with two well-contested wins in Washington Fields.

The visiting Eagles shocked the Mustangs with three runs in the top of the first inning during Thursday night’s game.

Crimson scored twice in the bottom of the first frame and then tied it after the bottom of the fourth. Two runs in the fifth were enough to overcome one Eagles score in the sixth and provide the final margin.

Jarvis Osborn pitched six innings for the Mustangs win, allowing four runs off of three hits. He walked three batters and struck out two.

Staton Kranendonk threw the seventh inning and recorded the save from Crimson Cliffs. He walked one and struck out one in his effort.

McKay Wright led the Mustangs at the plate, hitting a 2-run home run and collecting a third RBI with a single. 

Friday’s game was tied 1-1 after one and then Crimson put it away with four tallies in the third and two more in the fourth.

Steele Barben went the distance on the hill and picked up the win. His line was seven innings pitched, three hits, two runs, two walks and seven strikeouts.

Barben also led the way at the plate for the Mustangs, collecting two hits and three RBIs to lead Crimson’s seven-hit attack.

Tyler West contributed two of those hits and scored twice in the game.

Crimson Cliffs will look to continue advancing in bracket play Monday morning at 11 a.m. against Region 9 rival Snow Canyon.

Pine View bows out

After defeating Park City 7-2 on the road Thursday, Pine View fell to the Miners 4-0 and 7-4 on Friday, eliminating the Panthers from the tournament and ending their season with a record of 17-13.

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