4A state baseball playoffs: Pine View falls victim in 3rd upset of the day

Brock Roundy pitches for Pine View baseball in the team's loss to Ridgeline, 4A state baseball playoffs, Cate Field, Salt Lake Community College, West Jordan, Utah, May 17, 2021 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News

SOUTH JORDAN — It wasn’t for a lack of pitching, but Pine View is staring down the barrel of a loser-goes-home Region 9 matchup today.

No. 6 Ridgeline vs. No. 3 Pine View, 4A state baseball playoffs, Cate Field, Salt Lake Community College, West Jordan, Utah, May 17, 2021 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News

The No. 3 Panthers were upset by No. 6 Ridgeline 3-1 on Monday in the opening round of the 4A state baseball championships in South Jordan, the only breathing room they get in the double-elimination tournament.

Brock Roundy punched out 12 and kept Pine View in the game, but the lineup struggled against Riverhawks starter Jaden Harris. After driving in their lone run in the first inning, Pine View failed to get another runner to third base until the seventh inning. They didn’t record a hit between the second and the sixth.

“He was a good pitcher,” Pine View head coach Glen MacLellan said. “He made us look stupid. We were being greedy and taking daddy hacks.”

Pine View took the game’s first lead after Roundy pitched around two base runners in the top of the first. He knocked a single in the bottom half with two outs. Courtesy runner Byron Cullison stole second, and Traton Staheli knocked him in with a roller inside the third base line. After Staheli’s single, the Panthers would not record a hit in the next 19 plate appearances.

Roundy held off Ridgeline, the Region 11 champs, until the fourth. Davis Fullmer lined a one-out single, advanced on an error and scored on a Kole Jenson double. Marshall Hansen drove in Jenson with another single two batters later to give the Riverhawks their first lead of the game.

No. 6 Ridgeline vs. No. 3 Pine View, 4A state baseball playoffs, Cate Field, Salt Lake Community College, West Jordan, Utah, May 17, 2021 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News

Ridgeline added an insurance run in the fifth as Jaxen Hollingsworth was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, advanced to second on a wild pitch, third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly.

Roundy retired the last nine hitters he faced in order following the hit by pitch, including the sacrifice fly. He allowed only four hits total, the same amount as Harris, but Ridgeline capitalized on opportunities even without hits.

“Brock did fantastic, everything we could ask for him,” MacLellan said. “They just got a couple more hits, and we had a couple of errors. That’s the difference in the game – that’s just baseball.”

Of importance in the double-elimination bracket, Roundy threw 110 pitches. By Utah High School Activities Association rules, this bars him from pitching over the next three days. He would be eligible to take the mound again on Friday, the first day of the finals.

MacLellan expressed confidence in his pitching depth and said the team will bounce back. The Panthers will have to flush the loss quickly as the face Region 9 foe Dixie today, with the loser heading home. The Flyers were the only lower-seed team to not upset their higher-seed opponent in the first round at Salt Lake Community College when they were walked off by No. 2 Snow Canyon.

Pine View swept Dixie by scores of 6-5 on April 6 and 5-0 on April 8. Staheli and GJ Erickson are the projected starters for the 1:30 p.m. game. The full bracket is available here.

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

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