ST. GEORGE – Region 9 teams went 7-1 on pod Saturday in the 4A state baseball tournament, but one of the wins was an especially surprising one and the lone loss was a stunner as well.

Pine View knocked No. 1 seed Spanish Fork into the loser’s bracket with a 10-run mercy-rule win. The Panthers also beat Bear River, earning a trip to the state quarterfinals next Wednesday. They’ll be joined by Region 9 champ Dixie, which allowed just one run in two games to also make the quarters.

Desert Hills also won two games, defeating Salem Hills and then No. 1 seed Sky View to make it to the quarterfinals as well. Perhaps one of the big surprises of the day was state finalist Snow Canyon’s first-round loss to Orem. The Warriors bounced back to defeat Mountain Crest in the late game, but will have to work their way through the one-loss bracket if they want to return to the state championship game.

Here’s a glance at the day’s action:

Sky View pod at SCHS/DHHS
Sky View 4, Ogden 3
Desert Hills 14, Salem Hills 4
Desert Hills 7, Sky View 0
Salem Hills 7, Ogden 0

The Thunder came away as the unbeaten team from this pod, which was played primarily at Snow Canyon High School.

Bronson Andrus hit a pair of three-run home runs in DH’s 10-run win over the Skyhawks. Drew Thorpe, meanwhile, had an RBI double and an RBI triple and recorded the victory on the mound, allowing just three hits in 4.1 innings of work.

It was a 6-4 game heading into the sixth inning, but Sam Rhoton and Jaxton Reber had RBIs as the lead grew to 9-4 in the sixth. The advantage ballooned to 14-4 in the seventh when Andrus socked his second long ball of the game.

In the second game, D-Hills got a gem of a performance on the mound from Blake Milne, who hurled six shutout innings. Dallen Turner pitched the seventh as the Thunder upset the pod host Bobcats.

Thorpe had a bases loaded triple in the third inning of the win over the Bobcats and the Thunder never trailed.

Milne gave up a double to Lee Dygert, but was otherwise very good. He allowed five total hits and no runs through six innings of work. Turner then came in and gave up just one walk in the seventh before cruising to the win.

SVHS beat Ogden in one early game. The Tigers were then eliminated by the Skyhawks.

Desert Hills, 18-6, will play Wednesday in the state quarterfinals against Juan Diego at 1:30 p.m. at Bruce Hurst Field.

Spanish Fork pod at PVHS/HHS
Pine View 11, Spanish Fork 1
Bear River 9, Tooele 0
Pine View 18, Bear River 11
Spanish Fork 12, Tooele 2

The Panthers won their fifth and sixth straight games, racking up 29 runs in the process, and moved into the state quarterfinals with an 11-1 win over Spanish Fork and an 18-11 victory over Bear River Saturday.

Catcher Weston Sampson had a monster day, collecting six hits and eight RBIs in the two games, including hitting a three-run homer against the Bears.

“Region 9 got us ready for this,” Sampson said. “We weren’t intimidated or scared. We face pitchers every night that throw 86, 88, 90. We just wanted to come out and play our game.”

The pod was supposed to be hosted by Spanish Fork, but with the storm moving in, it was decided early to move the games to Hurricane and Pine View. The Panthers played the No. 1-seeded Dons in the early game at Hurricane and came out smoking, scoring three runs in the first, three in the third and five in the fifth. Spanish Fork plated a run in the bottom of the fifth, but couldn’t get a second one home to avoid the 10-run mercy rule.

“Are we surprised we 10-runned them? Yeah,” Pine View coach Glen MacLellan said. “But we’re not surprised we won. With Tanner Staheli on the mound, we feel like we can beat anybody. And our offense is really coming together.”

Staheli pitched 4.2 innings and Cody Riddle came on and recorded the final out to end the game early via the mercy rule. The Dons left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth.

“We’ve been working hard at getting better on offense,” Pine View’s Luke Green said. “Hard work pays off. Today we saw that.”

Against Bear River, Pine View threatened to end the game early via the mercy rule once again. The Panthers scored 10 runs in the second inning, with Sampson singling home the first run with one out and then coming around a second time and capping the rally with a three-run bomb.

The lead ballooned to 12-1 heading to the bottom of the fourth after a couple of Bear errors. But Bear River showed heart in the bottom of the fourth, with Jake Dahle rocking a grand slam as part of a six-run rally that cut it to 12-7.

“Bear River is a scrappy team,” MacLellan said. “We really thought we had this one heading to the mercy rule, but they kept fighting back. They showed a lot of heart.”

Again Pine View spread the lead out, scoring five runs in the top of the fifth to make it 17-7. The rally included five singles, one of those by Sampson for his fifth RBI of the game.

But the Bears avoided the mercy rule once again in the bottom of the fifth by scoring four runs of their own, making it 17-11. Bear River’s bats finally quieted down when Pine View brought in reliever Green, who allowed no runs the final 2.1 innings of the game.

“We actually had Riddle ready to come back in, but Luke Green pitched so well that we didn’t need to make the switch,” MacLellan said. “He restored some sanity to the game.”

All totaled, the carnage from Pine View’s offensive wrecking ball read like this: 29 runs, 29 hits, 44 safe base runners, and a team batting average of .446 on the day (29 for 65).

Roman Lafemina was 5 for 8 on the day, Sampson was 6 for 9 and Dawson Staheli was a perfect 6 for 6 with five runs scored and four RBIs.

“I like the way we’re swinging it right now,” MacLellan said. “It’s important to get hot at the right time and hopefully we can keep this going.”

The Panthers, 17-7, play region rival Dixie at 11 a.m. at Dixie State University’s Hurst Field Wednesday at 11 a.m. in the first 4A quarterfinal.

Dixie Pod at DHS
Park City 3, Ridgeline 1
Dixie 10, Lehi 1
Lehi 4, Ridgeline 3
Dixie 4, Park City 0

The Flyers fell behind 1-0 in the first few innings against the Pioneers, but took over the game with five runs in the bottom of the fourth and five more in the bottom of the fifth.

A pair of Dixie errors put Lehi ahead in the top of the second and Pioneers pitcher Casey Anderson had the Flyers baffled at the plate. Tyson Fisher led off the fourth with a single and he scored to make it 1-1 on a single by Payden Harrah. Two batters later, Reggie Graff made it 3-1 with a two-run double to center field. Hobbs Nyberg followed a moment later with a two-run double to up the lead to 5-1.

Chase Lundin hit an RBI double to start the scoring in the fifth, plating Fisher. Tyson Miller, Blake Oaks and Nyberg each hit RBI singles as the lead grew to 10-1. Dixie couldn’t quite invoke the mercy rule the last two innings, but won easily with Cooper Vest and Hobbs Nyberg combining on the shutout.

Nyberg led the way on offense with three hits, while Vest allowed just two hits and one unearned run on the mound.

Fisher pitched a one-hit shutout for six innings, with Kayler Yates closing down the seventh against Park City. Fisher’s big sweeping curveball was the key as he had nine strikeouts in six innings. Yates struck out the side in the seventh.

Wyatt Woodland had a huge two-run double off the left field fence in the first inning. But the Miners and pitcher Cameron Hudgens wouldn’t allow Dixie another run until the sixth inning.

Things got interesting in the top of the sixth as Park City got runners on first and third off of Fisher with two outs. But Fisher struck out Payton Gross to end the threat and Dixie added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth to clinch the win.

“I don’t think we were overlooking Park City at all,” Woodland said. “They’ve got a good team, but I think Region 9 prepared us well for games like this. I’m not surprised our region did so well in the first two rounds today.”

Dixie coach Danny Ipson was thrilled with the performance of Fisher, who had two base hits at the plate along with his solid pitching outing.

“We count on Tyson to be one of our leaders and he did a great job of that today,” Ipson said. “He stepped forward and hit the ball well and did a great job on the mound as well.”

Dixie, 24-3, plays rival Pine View in the state quarterfinals Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Hurst Field.

Juan Diego pod at Juan Diego High
Juan Diego 8, Mountain Crest 7
Orem 6, Snow Canyon 4
Juan Diego 10, Orem 2
Snow Canyon 9, Mountain Crest 1

There were nearly two big upsets in round one, with Juan Diego trailing the Mustangs 6-1 before mounting a furious rally.

Snow Canyon was not quite as fortunate. An error helped open the door for a 3-0 lead for the Tigers in the top of the third inning off of SC ace Breck Eichelberger.

Snow Canyon rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Austin Deming, an error, and an RBI by Zack Nowatzke.

But Orem grabbed the lead for good in the top of the fifth, with an error again playing a key role in a three-run rally. Eichelberger ended up giving up six runs in five innings of work, with two of the runs unearned.

The Warriors pulled to within 6-4 in the sixth on an RBI double by Jed Jensen, but went down quietly in the seventh as Orem secured the upset win.

The venue switched from Juan Diego High School to BYU’s Miller Field for the late games. Dodging the rain and lightning, Juan Diego whipped Orem 10-2, while Snow Canyon bounced back to eliminate Mountain Crest.

Jensen allowed seven hits, but only one run and no walks in six innings for the win for SC. Austin Deming had four singles in the late game.

Nowatzke started Snow Canyon off quickly with a two-run triple in the bottom of the first inning. Stephen Gubler also had an RBI as it was 3-0 after one inning.

Brock Secrist had an RBI single in the fourth to put SC ahead 4-1, while Jensen and Braden Baker picked up RBIs to make it 6-1 in the fifth. A Mustang error made it 7-1 and Nowatzke and Jensen picked up RBIs in the sixth to add to the lead.

Snow Canyon, 23-4, will have to make its way through the one-loss bracket if it wants a return trip to the state finals. That journey will begin Wednesday with a 1:30 p.m. game against Park City at Pine View High School. If the Warriors win, they would play again that night at 7 p.m. against the winner of Bear River and Salem Hills at Hurst Field.

Juan Diego, 21-5, advances to the state quarterfinals and plays Desert Hills at 1:30 p.m. at Hurst Field on Wednesday.

4A State Playoffs – 1st & 2nd Rounds

Sky View pod at SCHS/DHHS
Sky View 4, Ogden 3
Desert Hills 14, Salem Hills 4
Desert Hills 7, Sky View 0
Salem Hills 7, Ogden 0

Spanish Fork pod at PVHS/HHS
Pine View 11, Spanish Fork 1
Bear River 9, Tooele 0
Pine View 18, Bear River 11
Spanish Fork 12, Tooele 2

Dixie Pod at DHS
Park City 3, Ridgeline 1
Dixie 10, Lehi 1
Lehi 4, Ridgeline 3
Dixie 4, Park City 0

Juan Diego pod at Juan Diego High
Juan Diego 8, Mountain Crest 7
Orem 6, Snow Canyon 4
Juan Diego 10, Orem 2
Snow Canyon 9, Mountain Crest 1

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