4A state baseball: Dixie beats Bear River; Crimson Cliffs’ bats erupt again

Written by E. George Goold
May 18, 2022
Dixie beats Bear River in a 4A state baseball playoff game, St. George, Utah, May 17, 2022 | Photo by Jacqui Knighton, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — The baseball teams from Dixie and Crimson Cliffs won big Tuesday at the 4A state baseball tournament, and the Region 10 rivals are moving to the front of the pack of contenders for the title. 

Dixie prevailed in a rare pitcher’s duel and beat Bear River 2-1 while Crimson Cliffs recovered from an early deficit and crushed Pine View 16-2. Both teams advanced in their brackets.

Meanwhile, Hurricane and Desert Hills were eliminated from the tournament in respective losses to Snow Canyon and Green Canyon.

Following are recaps of the games from day two of the tournament.

Flyers 2, Bears 1

The briskly played ballgame between Region 10 and Region 11 foes was an anomaly so far at the tournament: well-pitched, error-free and full of sparkling defensive plays.

Dixie beats Bear River in a 4A state baseball playoff game, St. George, Utah, May 17, 2022 | Photo by Jacqui Knighton, St. George News

It was an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel as Dixie’s Cayson Bell and Bear River’s Ashton Harrow matched each other pitch for pitch, out for out.

“We knew it was going to be a battle coming in,” Dixie coach Danny Ipson told St. George News. “We’ve been talking the guys up all day long saying this was going to be a barroom brawl, and that’s exactly what it turned out to be.”

Bell went 6.1 innings on the hill, scattering six hits, walking three and striking out seven. GJ Erickson got the last two outs for the save, pitching to his battery mate and brother Ridge Erickson.

“Cayson was just so effective today, especially early in the counts,” Ipson said. “We’ve been talking to all our guys to go and win the two-strike battles. He did that and didn’t let them get back into some deep counts even when we were ahead.”

Bear River took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. The Bears’ shortstop, Hunter Smoot, belted a triple then scored on Alec Callister’s bloop single.

Dixie started its comeback in the top of the sixth. Ridge Erickson singled up the middle, then took second on Malcolm Bartholomew’s sacrifice bunt.

Blake Watson then came up and smacked an RBI double to tie the game 1-1.

And then in the top of the seventh, Flyers’ shortstop Boston Vest crushed the first pitch he saw from Harrow over the left-field wall for a game-winning home run.

“Previous at-bats, I got down early,” Vest said. “So I was just looking for a pitch I could handle early in the count.”

Bear River threatened in its last at-bat, getting two runners on base before GJ Erickson got Harrow to swing at a high pitch for a pop fly to first to end the game.

Dixie awaits the winner of the elimination game between Snow Canyon and Bear River, scheduled for the first game Wednesday morning.

Mustangs 16, Panthers 2

Crimson Cliffs won again in the second bracket, putting up a 10-spot in the third inning and six more runs in the fourth to end the contest early.

Beau Sampson cruised to the pitcher’s victory, surrendering two runs off of five hits.

The Mustangs’ lineup was potent for the second game in a row, pounding out 14 hits in four innings of play.

Jayger Baldwin collected four RBIs for the winners, and both Tate Maynard and Canyon Kutch hit a double and drove in three for Crimson Cliffs.

Petey Soto, Ty Maynard, Trey Evans and Jayz Estridge all had one RBI for the Mustangs in the victory.

Meanwhile, Nash Schroeder and Kyson Milne accounted for the RBIs for Pine View. The Panthers face an elimination game against Green Canyon Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

Crimson Cliffs will then play the winner of that contest at 7 p.m. The Mustangs scored a combined 31 runs in two tournament games so far.

Warriors 19, Tigers 8

Snow Canyon defeats Hurricane in a 4A state baseball playoff game, St. George, Utah, May 17, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

The two Region 10 teams put up a football score as Snow Canyon ended Hurricane’s season.

The Warriors put eight runs on the board in the bottom of the first and fourth innings to end the game early.

Jake Johnson got the victory on the mound. Luke Anderson hit a triple and double among his three hits, driving in four Warriors runs. Logan Mendenhall homered and drove in three.

Hayden Smith also accounted for three RBIs and Drake Kelly contributed four more RBIs for the winners.

Hurricane ended the year with one victory against Region 10 opponents all season. Sam Johanson, Josh Wright and Jaxon Jones drove in two runs for the Tigers.

Wolves 12, Thunder 4

Green Canyon ended Desert Hills’ season after shutting out the Thunder for six innings.

Green Canyon hurler Nick Bouck stymied the Thunder bats until the bottom of the seventh, when Desert Hills scored its four runs.

Karson Irvin took the loss for the Thunder.

Andrew Wilson and Taylor Mosher both drove in two Thunder runners in that frame.

Go to the UHSAA website to view the full 4A state championship bracket.

Photo Gallery

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric George Goold came to St. George News from southwestern Colorado, where he was a radio news reporter. He has been a journalist for over 20 years in five different states. He graduated with a master's degree in English from Kansas State University and writes nonfiction as well. Goold has been published in Sunstone Magazine and has done multiple public readings about local history. When he has free time, he enjoys chess, movies and dogs.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

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!