Brooms were out as three teams earn region sweeps

Pine View vs. Snow Canyon, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 29, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – It was sweeps week in Region 9 with Cedar, Dixie and Snow Canyon each completing a two-game sweep of their respective opponents heading into the Easter break. The Warriors got their second straight mercy-rule win, while Dixie’s pitching staff allowed no runs this week as well, and Cedar proved it’s the king of Iron County.

Here’s a sampling of the action:

Snow Canyon 12, Pine View 0

The Warriors followed up Tuesday’s 10-run, 10-hit game with a 12-run, 15-hit contest at Pine View to improve to 4-0 in Region 9 play. Three different Snow Canyon players (Travis Davenport, Austin Deming and Jed Jensen) had three hits and Deming knocked in five runs. Oh, and the senior pitched a pretty good game, too.

“I’m never really relaxed pitching,” said Deming, who allowed just two hits and a walk in his shutout effort on the mound. “Pitching’s a little more stressful than playing shortstop. You have to focus on every pitch.”

Pine View vs. Snow Canyon, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 29, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

With Deming on the mound, Snow Canyon turns to Travis Davenport at shortstop. He was solid in the field and spectacular at the plate.

“Last game we got off to a fast start, but then we kind of let up, so we wanted to come out firing on all cylinders tonight,” said Davenport, who had two singles and a double in the game. “For me, I look for a strike early in the count to hit hard, and then later in the count, I just try and put the ball in play. My swing felt really good tonight.”

The combination of two Pine View errors and the parade of Snow Canyon hits turned this game ugly early. The Warriors got a run in the first on a Panther error and two more in the second on a Deming two-RBI single.

In the top of the third, Snow Canyon busted the game wide open. Jed Jensen started what would be a six-run rally with an RBI single in the hole to make it 4-0. Braden Baker followed with a liner to left to make it 5-0. With one out, Davenport scorched one down the left field line to score two more and make it 7-0. Deming followed with a two-run single to left that made it 9-0.

“Like Travis said, we wanted to keep the pressure on and score in every inning tonight,” Deming said. “We did a better job of that. We didn’t want to let up.”

Snow Canyon’s Austin Deming (13), Pine View vs. Snow Canyon, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 29, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

With Deming throwing BBs, it was just a matter of if or when the Warriors would bring the mercy rule into play. That question was answered in the top of the fifth as Deming, Zack Nowatzke and Jensen each knocked a run home to make it 12-0.

Deming then retired three of the four batters he faced in the bottom of the fifth to end the game.

SC improves to 15-1 overall and 4-0 in region play with the win. Every Snow Canyon starter reached base at least once in the game and the Warriors were an astounding 15 for 29 at the plate as a team. Deming, in four appearances this season (20 innings), has only allowed one earned run.

Pine View, 8-3 and 2-2, only had three base runners in the game. Cody Riddle and Weston Sampson had the two hits.

Snow Canyon faces Cedar for two games next week, starting with Tuesday’s game at Warrior Field at 7:30 p.m. The Panthers will have a region bye and play at Richfield Tuesday night.

Dixie 5, Desert Hills 0

Left-handed Dixie sophomore Cooper Vest outdueled Thunder ace Drew Thorpe Tuesday night by tossing a three-hit shutout.

Vest, the home run hero of last season’s state championship game, has proven to be more powerful as a pitcher this season. He’s thrown two mercy-rule shortened no hitters and was practically unhittable against Desert Hills on Tuesday. He retired 14 of the last 15 batters in the game and shut down Thunder power hitters Sam Rhoton and Bronson Andrus.

File photo, Dixie’s Payden Harrah (24), Dixie vs. Wasatch, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 17, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

The Flyers grabbed the lead in the top of the second inning. Payden Harrah followed a Tyson Miller single with an RBI double to make it 1-0 with one out. And with two down, Wyatt Woodland took a 2-2 pitch to right field for an RBI single that made it 2-0.

Thorpe settled down and put four straight zeroes on the board to keep his team in it.

Desert Hills had a golden opportunity to cut into the deficit in the bottom of the second. Kayden Goodman walked and went to second on a wild pitch. Mason Creager then singled to right field and the Thunder tested Harrah’s arm by sending Goodman home. Bad idea, as Harrah made the throw and Chase Lundin made the tag at the plate to end the inning and cut the run off at the pass.

Dixie put the game on ice with a three-spot in the top of the seventh. Harrah scored on a wild pitch and Hobbs Nyberg singled in a run to make it 4-0. Blake Oaks came home with the fifth run on a wild pitch by the DH reliever.

Dixie, 13-2 overall and 2-0 in region play, had seven hits in the game, including Harrah’s double. Reggie Graff had two of those hits. Vest finished with 11 strikeouts and one walk in his three-hit complete game.

Desert Hills, 8-4 and 1-3, had just three singles and no extra base hits in the contest.

The Flyers face Hurricane next week for two games, starting with Tuesday night’s game at HHS. Desert Hills will battle Canyon View, with Tuesday’s game at Thunder Field.

Cedar 3, Canyon View 2

The Redmen are the early surprise in region play, improving to 3-1 with the two-game sweep over the Falcons.

The game was knotted at 1-1 heading into the seventh inning. McClain Anderson started the top of the inning off with a double for Cedar. The next batter, Korby Myers, rapped a liner to right field to score Anderson and make it 2-1. The Redmen weren’t done. Chase Houston walked, then Bridger Bunnell took one on the chin to load the bases. Ethan Boettcher then beat out a double-play ball to pick up a critical RBI and make it 3-1.

In the bottom half, Trace Harden had an RBI double to make it 3-2. However, he was cut down at third on a fielder’s choice just ahead of a single by McCray Webster. With two on, Cedar reliever Logan Smith induced a harmless fly ball to end the game.

Tanner Eyre pitched the win for the Redmen, while Smith gets the save for his efforts. Myers and Jake Jenkins had two hits each for Cedar, while Boettcher had two RBIs, including one on a solo home run in the second inning. Cedar, 8-5 and 3-1, had six hits and three walks in the game.

Canyon View, 5-8 and 0-4, had 10 hits in the game, including three by Webster and two each by Harden, Trevor Farrow and Parker Holmes. But the Falcons left 10 men on base and only managed to draw two walks off of Eyre.

Cedar battles Snow Canyon next week, starting Tuesday at SCHS, while Canyon View takes on Desert Hills with Tuesday’s game at Thunder Field.

Hurricane 9, Emterprise 5

The Tigers trailed 5-4 going into the bottom of the fourth, but scored one in the fourth, one in the fifth and three in the sixth to pull away for the win.

Brian Long’s RBI single in the bottom of the fourth tied the game at 5-5. In the fifth, Brock Starley singled home Kage Akipoleki to put the Tigers ahead 6-5.

In the sixth, two straight Wolves errors brought home a run to make it 7-5. Nate Horsley lined home Rylee Kent moments later to make it 8-5 and the ninth run came home on another Enterprise error.

Kent and Horsley combined to allow seven hits and four earned runs for Hurricane, which improved to 6-6 overall. Akipoleki and Starley had two hits each on offense.

The Tigers play again at home Friday night with a contest vs. North Sevier. HHS then travels to Richfield on Saturday.

Thursday’s Region 9 results
Snow Canyon 12, Pine View 0
Dixie 5, Desert Hills 0
Cedar 3, Canyon View 2
Hurricane 9, Enterprise 5

Region 9 standings (region, overall)
Snow Canyon  4-0, 15-1
Dixie  2-0, 13-2
Cedar  3-1, 8-5
Pine View  2-2, 8-3
Desert Hills  1-3, 8-4
Hurricane  0-2, 6-6
Canyon View  0-4, 5-8

Upcoming games
Friday
North Sevier at Hurricane, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday
Hurricane at Richfield, 3:30 p.m.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

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