Prep baseball: Panthers rally to win; D-Hills loses heartbreaker vs. Spanish Fork

Pine View's Ryke Erickson (4), Pine View vs. Enterprise, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 23, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Pine View and Desert Hills both had tight ball games Thursday night, kicking off their weekend tournaments, with the Panthers rallying past 2A champ Enterprise and the Thunder going right down to the last out in a close loss to Spanish Fork.

The two contests mark the beginning of another busy weekend for local baseball teams. All six Region 9 teams play at least two games this week and four of the six will play at least three contests.

Here’s a look at Thursday night’s results and a schedule for the rest of the weekend:

Pine View 12, Enterprise 7

In a matchup of two defending state champs (EHS in 2A and PVHS in 3A), the Panthers roared from 4-0 down to take the victory.

Freshman Bridger Barney got the win in his first varsity start, but things looked shaky early. A single, a walk and a Pine View error set up Enterprise’s Tyler Hess in the top of the first inning. The Wolves right fielder ripped a double to left field that cleared the bases and put EHS ahead, 3-0.

Pine View’s Kory Taigen (1), Pine View vs. Enterprise, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 23, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Kaden Simkins pushed the lead to 4-0 in the top of the second with his own RBI double. The Panthers were hurting themselves with three errors in the first couple of innings.

“We’ll take the win, but we’ve got to be better out there,” said Pine View coach Troy Wall. “You can’t commit five errors in a game.”

Pine View got the bats going in the third inning, quickly erasing the four-run deficit by plating eight runs on six hits, three walks and an Enterprise error.

“I knew our bats would come,” said Pine View’s Dawson Staheli, who doubled home the first run of the game. “We played some really good teams last week, so even though we lost some games, we didn’t lose confidence. And getting behind tonight didn’t worry me much.”

Kaden Simkins (2) for Enterprise, Pine View vs. Enterprise, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 23, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Staheli’s no out RBI double in the third made it 4-1 and was followed, an out later, by a two-run single by Porter Draney to make it 4-3. After a pop out and a walk, No. 9 hitter Luke Green tied the game with a two-out RBI single.

But the Panthers weren’t done in the third. Ryke Erickson hit a hot shot that skipped off of the shortstop’s glove. The play was ruled an error, but brought home the go-ahead run in Tanner Staheli. Jagun Leavitt then made it 7-4 with a two-run single to right field. Dawson Staheli then got his second RBI of the inning by singling to left to make it 8-4.

“We all know the potential’s there for us, it just takes some time,” Erickson said. “We came into this tournament wanting to get a lot of hits and boost our confidence a little bit. Tonight was really good for us.”

Pine View’s Bridger Barney (29), Pine View vs. Enterprise, Baseball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 23, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

To the Wolves’ credit, they fought back in the game. Stetson Robinson doubled home a run in the fifth to make it 8-6 and Zeb Jones scored in the top of the sixth to cut it to 8-7.

But the Panthers put the game away in the bottom of the sixth with four runs on three hits, two walks and an Enterprise error. Tanner Staheli and Erickson had doubles in the inning.

Six different Pine View players had two hits in the game (Erickson, Leavitt, Dawson Staheli, Draney, Cody Riddle and Green) as the Panthers tallied 13 hits and 10 RBIs.

Barney, Logan Scoresby and Cole Madison manned the mound for PV in the victory.

Pine View, 5-4, plays two games Friday at home as part of the Spring Kick-off Classic. The Panthers face Grantsville at 3:30 p.m., and South Summit at 8:30 p.m.

Enterprise, 5-4, plays at Canyon View Friday at 4 p.m.

Spanish Fork 5, Desert Hills 4

The Dons came into the Thursday night battle with a 6-1 record and impressive wins over Bingham, Pine View and Pleasant Grove, among others, and it looked like they would cruise to another win after starting the game with four unanswered runs in the first two innings.

But by the fifth inning, when Desert Hills had cut the Dons lead to 5-3, Spanish Fork knew this one was going to come down to the final out.

And it did.

Trey Allred drew a one-out walk in the seventh and Trey Winget followed that up with a single to put the tying runs on base in the 5-3 contest. The next Thunder hitter struck out, and that’s when things got strange.

The next hitter, Sam Rhoton, ripped a ball to right field that scored Allred easily. The apparent double turned into the final out of the game when Spanish Fork was able to tag Rhoton out at second, apparently a split-second before Winget crossed the plate with the tying run.

Protests from DH coach Chris Allred and the Thunder players fell on deaf ears as the Dons celebrated their seventh win of the year.

Winget had three hits and three RBIs in the game, while Allred scored three times after getting a hit and two walks. Chad Nelson had two hits for Desert Hills, which fell to 7-2 on the year. Alex Ekins pitched 5.2 innings and Winget held SF hitless and worked out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth in his 1.1 innings of relief.

Spanish Fork’s Brady Brook was the star of the game, recording a double and a three-run homer (in the second inning) and picking up four RBIs. He reached base in all four of his plate appearances.

The Thunder play again Friday with a 7 p.m. first pitch against Juan Diego.

Note: The Timpanogas at Cedar game scheduled for Thursday afternoon was rained out and will not be made up.

FRIDAY
Hurricane at Kanab, 3:30 p.m.; Cedar at Wasatch, 4 p.m.; Dixie at Provo, 4 p.m.
Landmark Insurance Classic – Juan Diego at Desert Hills, 7 p.m.
Pine View Kickoff Classic – Grantsville at Pine View, 3:30 p.m.; S. Summit at PV, 8:30 p.m.
Texas Roadhouse Classic – Las Vegas at Snow Canyon, 7 p.m.; Salem Hills at SC, 9:30 p.m.

SATURDAY
Dixie at Orem, 10 a.m.; Dixie vs. Viewmont (@ Orem), 12:30 p.m.
Landmark Insurance Classic – Desert Hills vs. tbd, 11 a.m. & 3 p.m.
Pine View Kickoff Classic – Pine View vs. tbd
Texas Roadhouse Classic – Herriman at Snow Canyon, 1 p.m.; SC vs. tbd, 8 p.m.

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Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

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