Region 9 baseball: Cedar, Pine View complete pre-Easter series sweeps

Brecken Lewis dives back to first base for Cedar, Cedar vs. Snow Canyon, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Apr. 1, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Cedar swept Snow Canyon, which swept Pine View, which swept Canyon View, which split with Cedar, which got swept by Desert Hills, which lost to Dixie. Follow all that? It’s as clear as mud, which is pretty much the way Region 9 baseball is shaping up this season. The bottom line is that Cedar and Pine View both got much-needed sweeps this week as the teams vie for four playoff spots in 2015.

The Panthers did it with sharp pitching, while the Redmen used a late-game rally to get their crucial win. Here’s a recap of the night’s action:

Cedar 6, Snow Canyon 3

The Redmen led 2-0 early, only to see the Warriors rally for a 3-2 lead. In the past, visiting teams playing at Warrior Field would roll over in that situation. But not Cedar on the breezy Wednesday night.

cedar-smsnow-canyon-sm“Our kids are resilient,” Cedar coach Eric Fieldsted said. “They battle. We caught some breaks. Last week against Desert Hills, we didn’t catch any breaks. But hey, that’s baseball.”

The Redmen responded to the Snow Canyon rally with one of their own, sending the tying run home in the top of the sixth on a Ryan Slack RBI single, then taking the lead for good in the seventh with three runs on four hits and a couple of walks. Reliever Dusty Hanna made it stand and Cedar had completed the season sweep of the Warriors, something it hadn’t done in 11 years.

Treyson Esplin puts a ball in play for Cedar, Cedar vs. Snow Canyon, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Apr. 1, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Treyson Esplin puts a ball in play for Cedar, Cedar vs. Snow Canyon, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Apr. 1, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“This was a very important series for us, to see if we were going to keep spinning down or if we were coming up,” outfielder Johnny Jenkins said. “We weren’t going to roll over and give them anything. We needed this one. We fought to the end because this game sets the tone for us for the rest of the season.”

The Redmen had just dropped a two-game series to Desert Hills and came into the SC series at 1-3 in region. To emerge 3-3 and tied with the Warriors is huge.

“In this region, you can’t afford to get in a hole early and so it was a little bit of desperation time for us,” Fieldsted said. “It never ends in this region. It’s a battle every night and anyone can beat you.”

The big rally in the seventh began with a Rykker Tom single, followed by a Trey Esplin single. Jenkins then lined a hit into the outfield, but Tom was thrown out at the plate trying to score on the play. With Jenkins trying to advance to second on the throw, SC gunned the ball across the diamond, but the throw was high and went into the outfield. The error allowed Esplin to come in with the go-ahead run and Jenkins went to third.

Snow Canyon second baseman Nick Dolce (2) leaps for a high throw as Cedar's Rykker Tom (9) steals second base, Cedar vs. Snow Canyon, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Apr. 1, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon second baseman Nick Dolce (2) leaps for a high throw as Cedar’s Rykker Tom (9) steals second base, Cedar vs. Snow Canyon, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Apr. 1, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Back to back walks to Brecken Lewis and Hanna loaded the bases for Braden Lasson, who laced a single to left field that scored two runs and put Cedar ahead 6-3.

The Warriors got the tying man to the plate in the bottom of the seventh after hits by Isaac Rhea and Nick Brumfield, but Hanna induced a fly ball to end the game.

Cedar, 11-4 overall and 3-3 in region, had eight hits and also took advantage of eight walks in the game. Lewis took three of those free passes and scored twice.

Snow Canyon, 11-3 and 3-3, had nine base hits, including three by Rhea and two by Jake Sargent. But the Warriors stranded 12 men on base in the game.

Cedar has a two-game set with Dixie next week. Snow Canyon meets up with Desert Hills.

Stats: cedsc4115

Pine View 6, Canyon View 0

Harrison Goebel was effectively wild in getting the victory Wednesday night.

Pine-view-smcanyon-view-smThe Pine View senior, who will play football at Northern Arizona next season, hit a couple of batters and issued a few walks. But he never gave up the big hit in pitching five scoreless innings in which he allowed just one Falcons hit and struck out 10.

In fact, Goebel had more hits himself than the entire Canyon View team. His RBI single in the first inning put PV ahead for good at 1-0. He also knocked in Ty Johnston with the sixth run of the game.

Harrison Goebel gets congratulations after a run scoring hit early in the game, American Fork vs. Pine View, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 13, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Harrison Goebel gets congratulations after a run scoring hit early in the game, American Fork vs. Pine View, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 13, 2015 | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

In between, Goebel was mowing down Canyon View batters and his teammates were building the lead. Catcher Hunter Hansen, who has been on a tear lately at the plate, laced a two-RBI single in the third to make it 3-0. In the fourth inning Jackson Bithell tripled and scored on a sac fly by Johnston to make it 4-0 and it went to 5-0 moments later on an RBI single by Dakota Donovan which scored Logan LaFemina.

Brooks Barney allowed just one hit in two innings of relief for the Panthers, who improve to 7-7 overall and 4-2 in region play. PV has a region bye next week and resumes the region wars Apr. 14 and Apr. 17 vs. Dixie.

Canyon View, which fell to 6-9 and 2-4 in region, battles Hurricane in a two-game series next week.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

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