4A baseball playoffs: Cedar, Canyon View survive, Hurricane falls in day one

Cedar baseball's Miles Topham celebrates after hitting a single against Crimson Cliffs, Crimson Cliffs High School, Washington city, Utah, April 20, 2021 | File photo by Rich Allen, St. George News / Cedar City News

ST. GEORGE — The 4A state baseball playoffs kicked off on Monday with first-round play. Three Region 9 teams were tasked with playing single-elimination contests for bids into the super regional round this weekend.

Cedar baseball at Crimson Cliffs, Crimson Cliffs High School, Washington city, Utah, April 20, 2021 | File photo by Rich Allen, St. George News / Cedar City News

No. 17 Canyon View’s late inning magic continued to knock off higher-seed No. 16 Tooele on the road. Not to be outdone, No. 15 Cedar routed No. 18 Ben Lomond at home. No. 20 Hurricane, as one of the bottom two seeds, had to first beat No. 21 Ogden then No. 13 Cedar Valley if it wanted to advance to super regionals. The Tigers passed the first test and lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Aviators to end their season.

The teams from Cedar City advance to join the other five Region 9 teams in the next round. The super regional matchups will be decided by a best-of-three, rather than a single elimination game. The contests will be spread across Thursday and Friday. Five Southern Utah teams will host their opponents and two will face regional foes.

Here are the recaps from day one of the playoffs followed by a schedule for Thursday’s games:

No. 20 Hurricane 5, No. 21 Ogden 3

No. 13 Cedar Valley 3, No. 20 Hurricane 2

The Tigers, entering as the second-to-last seed in the tournament, had some work to do to earn their spot in the super regional. They made it through against Ogden but saw a tightly-contested second game against Cedar Valley just slip away.

Hurricane baseball at Cedar, Cedar City, Utah, May 4, 2021 | File photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Against Ogden — who are also called the Tigers — Hurricane took their first lead in the fourth and didn’t let it go after a back-and-forth first half of the game. Ogden took advantage of a hit by pitch to start the game, following it immediately with a single. Hurricane starter Mason Shumaker nearly got out of it unscathed following a pop out and a strikeout but an error at second base and another single scored both runners.

Hurricane got the runs back in the second with a two-out rally. Casey Robinson started it with a single, then Cameron Fernandez walked. Caleb Pearson drove in Robinson with an infield single and Asher Christensen followed with another to score Fernandez.

Shumaker got the first two outs in the top of the third before Boston DeCocker reached on a dropped strike three, advanced on a passed ball and scored on an error to put Ogden back in front. Sam Johanson scored on a passed ball for Hurricane in the bottom of the third to tie the game in response.

In the fourth, Fernandez drew a one-out walk before manufacturing a run. He stole second, stole third and scored on a passed ball to put Hurricane in front for the first time in the game. Christensen drove in Fernandez in the sixth for an insurance run.

Shumaker, meanwhile, pitched all seven innings. He pitched around trouble all game, allowing at least one base runner in every inning. He finished the game with seven strikeouts, no walks  and just five hits allowed, all of which were singles. None of the three runs he surrendered were earned.

Fernandez scored three runs and had three stolen bases. He went 0-for-1 but drew two walks. Christensen had three hits, half of Hurricane’s total, and drove in a pair. As a team, Hurricane struck out only once.

In game two, all the scoring was done in the fourth and fifth innings.

Hurricane broke a scoreless deadlock in the fourth with a pair of bases-loaded walks. Landon Stewart took four straight balls to score Johanson and Fernandez walked to force in Jaxon Jones. Cedar Valley, however, rallied in the fifth to come back and take the lead. After getting to quick outs, Kel Webb ran into some trouble. A double was followed by a hit by pitch, a triple and another double.

Webb controlled the Aviators lineup the rest of the game to the tune of only five other hits in the other five innings of the game. They were all singles. Webb also struck out six in the game. He also was the only player to record multiple hits for the Tigers, going 2-for-4. His double was the only extra-base hit the team had.

Cedar Valley starter Cooper Thomson controlled the Hurricane lineup to the tune of only six hits. He struck out only two but successfully pitched to contact to get outs. Outside of the run-scoring fourth, the Tigers got only two runners to third base. They had the tying run on third in the top of the seventh, but Webb flew out to left to end the game.

Hurricane finishes the season 3-23.

No. 17 Canyon View 9, No. 16 Tooele 8

The Falcons pulled off another late-inning comeback to survive and upset a higher seed to advance to the super regional round.

Pine View baseball at Canyon View, Cedar City, Utah, May 4, 2021 | File photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Canyon View trailed for the majority of the game after giving up five runs in the bottom of the first. The score held at 5-0 until the sixth when the Falcons piled up four runs to get back into the game. Then, they exploded for five in the top of the seventh to go up by four with just three outs to play.

If that wasn’t theatrical enough, Tooele tried to score the game-tying run in their own comeback bid with two outs but was thrown out at the plate to end the game.

Brayden Winn struggled out of the gate, yielding five singles and two walks in the bottom of the first before he was relieved after .2 innings. Holden Miller locked the game down to keep Canyon View in it with 4.1 shutout innings and Davin Roundy threw a scoreless sixth and held on enough to secure the win in the seventh.

Brayden Floyd got the offense cooking for Canyon View after five one-hit innings with a single to start the sixth. The Buffaloes had faced just one batter over the minimum at that point. Ashten Arciero followed Floyd with another single. Tooele got two quick outs before an error, a walk and two more singles from Chase Calvez and Hutson Slack brought the Falcons within one.

The five-run rally came after two quick outs in the seventh. Miller started it off with an infield single before Kody Callison was hit by a pitch. Tommy English singled into left field to tie the game before Cameron Calvez tripled to center to give the Falcons their first lead. Chase Calvez hit a single to bring the score to 8-5 and another triple by Slack gave the Falcons a four-run lead, six straight base runners and five hits in the previous six at-bats.

Tooele got two base runners in the first three turns at bat in the bottom half, both of which scored. They sent the game-tying run to the plate home on a double but English gunned him down at the plate from left field to preserve the win and advance Canyon View to the next round.

The Falcons will meet No. 1 Desert Hills in St. George on Thursday.

No. 15 Cedar 12, No. 18 Ben Lomond 2

The Reds earned the five-inning mercy rule to move on following a walk-off rally.

Hurricane baseball at Cedar, Cedar City, Utah, May 4, 2021 | File photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Cedar led for the entirety of the game after scoring two in the bottom of the first. They scored once in the third, three times in the fourth and six times in the fifth to earn the win. Kasen Crandall launched a two-run homer in the fifth to give the Reds the win.

Kolby White went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple, five RBIs and two runs scored. Lawson Black, Crandall and Kyler Callister each had two hits in the win.

Crandall threw two innings on the mound without allowing a run and striking out three. Miles Topham pitched threw three innings, allowing all four Ben Lomond hits and two runs and striking out three.

Brecken Campbell started the scoring with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first. The Scots got within one in the second and fourth before Cedar pulled away. Black had a two-RBI single and White had a sacrifice fly in the fourth to put the Reds up by four.

Miles Topham doubled to start the fifth as Cedar collectively hit for the cycle in the final frame: Callister singled, White tripled and Crandall’s homer capped it.

Cedar advances to take on No. 2 Snow Canyon on Thursday.

Thursday’s games

  • No. 17 Canyon View at No. 1 Desert Hills, 7 p.m.
  • No. 15 Cedar at No. 2 Snow Canyon, 7:30 p.m.
  • No. 14 Sky View at No. 3 Pine View, 4 p.m.
  • No. 10 Green Canyon at No. 7 Dixie, 7 p.m.
  • No. 9 Bear River at No. 8 Crimson Cliffs, 7 p.m.

Updated May 13, 2 p.m. to include updated game start times

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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