4A state baseball: Pine View, Crimson Cliffs both win; second-round matchups are set

Pine View defeats Desert Hills in a 4A state baseball playoff game, St. George, Utah, May 16, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — The baseball team from Pine View High School shook off some jitters and beat Desert Hills 7-3 Monday night in the final game of the first round of play in the 4A state tournament.

Pine View defeats Desert Hills in a 4A state baseball playoff game, St. George, Utah, May 16, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

“We were all a little rusty swinging the bat,” Pine View coach Glen McLellan said after the game. “Good approaches but chasing pitches we don’t normally chase. We’ll get those jitters out, I think a lot of it is state competition jitters.”

The state playoff game was a familiar matchup of Region 10 rivals. Senior Brock Roundy pitched for Pine View while Desert Hills started ace Payton Gubler.

Roundy kept the Thunder off the scoreboard for four straight innings. He ran into a tight spot in the top of the sixth and was relieved by his brother Brandon Roundy, who secured the save.

“Brock wasn’t really on his A-game, but he threw well enough to hold them down to a couple of runs then Brandon closed the door,” McLellan said. “We expect that. They’re doing us a great job. We just don’t want to go to Brandon so late in the game.”

“But this was a must-win,” he added. “We’re going to try to win every game.”

Brock Roundy picked up the win after 5.2 innings pitched. The left-hander scattered seven hits, surrendered three runs, walked three and struck out five.

Meanwhile, at the plate, Pine View scored runs in three of the first four innings and built a 5-0 lead. Desert Hills came back with a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth before running out of steam.

Brock Roundy helped his own cause, batting 3-for-3 in the contest with three RBIs. Andrew Shakespear drove in a run and scored once for the Panthers.

Cole DeCastro hit an RBI single in the fifth to get Desert Hills on the board, then scored again in the sixth off of a wild pitch. 

Jace Fillmore’s bloop single-plated Taylor Mosher and the Thunder got as close as 5-3, and they got the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning before Pine View clinched the win.  

Up next for Pine View is another Region 10 matchup at state, this time against Crimson Cliffs Tuesday evening at 4:30 p.m. at Bruce Hurst Field.

“Good team. Good competitive team,” McLellan said. “Coached well and really got a good pitching staff. We’ve taken one from them earlier in the year and we believe we can do it again.”

Crimson Cliffs 15, Green Canyon 3

Crimson Cliffs recovered from an early 2-0 deficit and the Mustangs stampeded to a six-run sixth inning to end the game early.

Inside the Crimson Cliffs dugout after a Mustangs victory at the 4A state tournament, St. George, Utah, May 16, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Trey Evans smashed a walk-off grand slam to put an exclamation point on the big win.

“It was awesome,” Evans said in the dugout among celebrating teammates. “I was just looking to hit first pitch because he was throwing a lot of balls before. I was looking to end the game right there.”

Steele Barben entered the game in relief and steadied the ship for Crimson Cliffs after Green Canyon put up two runs in the second inning.

After that, it was all Mustangs. Evans led the way with his four RBIs. Three Crimson Cliffs batters–Brexten Starley, Jayz Estridge and Canyon Kutch–collected two RBIs apiece.

Contributing with single RBIs were Ty Maynard, Tate Maynard and Jayger Baldwin.

After beating a Region 11 team in Green Canyon, Evans said it will be fun for the Mustangs to face a familiar foe and local rival on Tuesday.

“Can’t wait,” he said.

Tuesday’s Games at Bruce Hurst Field:

Snow Canyon v. Hurricane, 11 a.m.

Green Canyon v. Desert Hills, 1:30 p.m.

Crimson Cliffs v. Pine View, 4:30 p.m.

Bear River v. Dixie, 7 p.m.

Photo Gallery

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!