Small-ball, big fourth inning power Desert Hills to win over Cedar in Super Regionals
In Desert Hills’ 10-4 Super Regional win over Cedar on Thursday, the Thunder overcame an early 4-0 run, plating the next ten en route to a Game 1 win, and putting the Reds on the brink of elimination.
The Reds put up two runs in both the first and second innings, leaping out to a 4-0 lead.
Brecken Campbell singled off the glove of starting pitcher Karson Irvin to score Braxtan Torres.
Quaid Mackert followed with an RBI single to score Campbell.
In the second, Torres lined a pitch from Irvin into right field, which rolled all the way to the wall, allowing Torres and Carter Slack to score on the single and three-base error.
Irvin was able to settle down and go six innings, while the Thunder offense came to life to put the Thunder up 1-0 in the best of three series.
Here’s how they did it:
Turning the tide on Torres
In the regular season, the Thunder took 2/3 season meetings against the Reds.
On March 29, the Thunder shutout the Reds 7-0.
Desert Hills then rode Payton Gubler to a 6-2 win on April 1. Andrew Wilson and Taylor Mosher each had two RBIs in the win, while Cole DeCastro added another.
The first meeting between the two Region 10 foes went in favor of the Reds behind a strong outing from Torres.
Torres went five innings, allowing just two earned runs while striking out six in a 9-3 win.
On Thursday, Torres couldn’t get out of the fourth inning.
Desert hills scored four runs in the second to tie the game up at 4-4 through two innings.
Torres worked around a walk and a single to keep the scoreboard clean in the third.
Kyler Terry put the Thunder ahead for good with a two-out double to score Eric Olson and DeCastro.
Wilson then added an RBI single, before Mosher put the finishing touches on a five-run inning with a double, forcing Cedar head coach Shawn Alton to turn to the bullpen.
Torres went 3.2 IP, allowing nine runs.
“The small-ball is what really opened it up for us,” said Desert Hills head coach Kevin Cave. He had us through the first inning and a half and then Andrew Wilson leads off with a double and it was small-ball from there and it kept working.”
Speed and small ball kills
Trailing 4-0, Cave went against the code of Moneyball and decided to play some small ball to inject life into his offense.
With two on and one out in the third inning, Cave called upon Cooper Cluff to drop down a bunt.
The sophomore successfully dropped one down, and a throw by Torres sailed high allowing Wilson and Jace Fillmore to score.
Olson then beat out a bunt single, putting the tying run on base.
DeCastro followed with a single to right to score Cluff and Olson.
“Our guys executed really well in terms of getting bunts down in tough spots and baserunners moving up at the right time and not moving up on their moves,” said Cave. “Once the first one or two worked, it was just ‘this is working, let’s just keep doing it’.”
More: Desert Hills vs. Cedar Super Regional photo gallery
The bunt once again came back to bite Cedar in the fourth.
Olson led off the inning with a double.
DeCastro laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the center fielder over, but no Red covered first base.
Kyler Terry struck with a two-out, two-strike double to score Olson and DeCastro and open the floodgates.
“That was a huge hit from Kyler,” said Cave. “He squared up the one a couple of innings before that was caught in left field… That was a monster hit to get us two runs.”
Irvin settles in
Karson Irvin went six innings, allowing six hits and just two earned runs.
The right hander struck out five before ceding to Kayson Turner in the seventh.
Irvin allowed four runs through the first two innings and worked around trouble in the third.
From then on, Irvin was sharp, retiring eight of the last 10 batters he faced.
He worked a 1-2-3 fourth inning and faced the minimum in the fifth after getting a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
“Irvin was awesome. He didn’t panic at all being down 4-0. He just kept trying to hit spots, and he started locating and then he got his off-speed for strikes and really warmed up when he got to 50 pitches.”
Cave will likely turn to senior ace Payton Gubler in Game 2 to close out the Reds.
“We’re pretty confident behind whoever is out there right now. We have four or five guys who are really throwing well, and we’ll need five or six guys if we can get past Cedar.”
#10 Hurricane at #7 Ridgeline
The Riverhawks took game one over the Tigers 7-2, limiting Hurricane to just three hits
Tanner Pastor, Sam Johanson, and Josh Wright had the the hits. Pastor had the lone RBI.
Ridgeline struck for two runs in the fourth and four more in the second inning.
Mason Shumaker allowed five earned runs in 1.1 IP.
#4 Snow Canyon vs. #13 Logan
Isaac Lyon made his return to the Warrior lineup well-known, leading the way with a home run and five RBIs as Snow Canyon beat Logan 18-8 in game one of the Super Regional.
Crew Secrist had four hits as the Warrior lineup pounded out 16 as a team and scored in every inning.
Hayden Smith and Drake Kelly also went deep for the Warriors in the win.
Ryker Gates pitched well out of bullpen, allowing just one run across four innings of two hit work. Gates punched out eight Grizzlies in relief of Ethan Anderson.
Sean Ellertson is a sports reporter for the St. George Spectrum & Daily News. To continue to support his work, please subscribe to The Spectrum. Follow Sean on Twitter @SeanEllertson.
This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: Desert Hills takes Game 1 over Cedar in 4A Super Regional
