ST. GEORGE – Folks from around Utah may think St. George baseball fans are a bit egocentric. We really do believe baseball is better in the sunshine of southern Utah.

If evidence is needed, just look at Saturday’s results. Snow Canyon, Dixie and Desert Hills all won two games Saturday and captured the championship of the tournaments they hosted. Pine View also won, going unbeaten in its tournament, and even Hurricane, which is often the doormat of Region 9, ended up with two wins and two narrow losses in three days. Meanwhile, Canyon View represented Iron County well with a nice 3-1 record over two days of action. Only Cedar, out of the seven Region 9 teams, ended up with a losing record this weekend.

Here’s a look at Saturday’s contests:

Snow Canyon 10, Syracuse 0
Snow Canyon 6, Canyon View 5

Austin Deming is really, really good. He plays a nearly flawless shortstop. He can hit the cover off the baseball. Oh yeah, and the BYU signee happens to be a decent pitcher as well.

Deming threw 81 pitches and allowed no hits to Syracuse in the early game Saturday, missing a perfect game by a mere two walks. He also had two doubles at the plate for the Warriors, who ended the game an inning early by scoring 10 runs on seven hits.

“I struggle with my fastball command sometimes, but today I wasn’t,” Deming said. “I was in full command of my fastball, curve and knuckle. I was able to get ahead of batters all day.”

Deming walked a batter in the first inning and in the fourth inning and those were the only base runners the poor Titans would get all game. He struck out 11 and the Snow Canyon defense was flawless behind him.

“That’s probably the best I’ve seen him throw in the four years that he’s pitched for me,” Warriors head coach Reed Secrist said. “He threw strikes, got ahead of hitters early and, really, they just couldn’t figure him out.”

SC scored two runs in the third inning, two more in the fourth, three in the fifth and then ended the game with three more in the bottom of the sixth. Deming had two doubles to lead the way and Travis Davenport and Stephen Gubler also doubled as the Warriors took advantage of five walks and three Syracuse errors.

In the later game, which turned out to be the championship of the KJ Harrison Classic, Canyon View raced out to a 4-0 lead behind the sharp pitching of Joey Lambeth. He held Snow Canyon hitless until the third and scoreless until two outs in the fourth.

Canyon View led 4-0 with RBI hits by Quinn Spevak, Trace Harden, Parker Holmes and Harden again. In the bottom of the fourth, SC finally broke through for a run off of Lambeth as Braden Baker doubled home Zack Nowatzke to make it 4-1.

The Warriors rallied for four runs in the fifth to take the lead. Tim Shakespeare started it with a leadoff single. Brock Secrist followed with an RBI triple to make it 4-2. Seth Smith’s sacrifice fly cut it to 4-3. A Falcon error put Austin Staheli aboard and Deming chased him home with an RBI double to tie it at 4-4. Deming eventually scored on a pair of wild pitches to make it 5-4 for the Warriors.

Canyon View answered with the tying run in the top of the seventh. Holmes blooped a two-out hit to right field to bring home Harden and make it 5-5.

But SC avoided extra innings with a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh. Deming hit a towering shot off of the center field fence that ended up with him at third base. The next batter, Gubler, then hit a 2-0 deep ball over the center fielder’s head for the walk-off winner.

“I’m just seeing the ball really well and I’m just trying to have fun,” said Gubler, who had eight hits in 12 at-bats over the weekend. “I knew I smoked that last one, but I was a little scared he might catch it. I guess it was just over his head.”

Travis Davenport got the win in relief of starter Makai Lee for the Warriors. Davenport went three innings and allowed two hits and one earned run.

Deming, who signed to play college baseball at BYU last November, started his senior season with six hits in four games, plus five runs scored and six RBIs. Of the six hits, four were doubles and one was a triple.

Next week, the Warriors host the Snow Canyon Classic with five northern Utah teams coming to St. George. SC will play Provo and Skyline Friday night.

Canyon View 4, Melba (Idaho) 2

Prior to the loss to Snow Canyon, the Falcons had won their third game of the season by edging the Mustangs.

Canyon View went 3-1 in the KJ Harrison Classic, winning games over Syracuse, Cimarron-Memorial and Melba by a combined total of five runs. The 8-7 win over the Titans Friday night came in walk-off fashion with Quinn Spevak doubling home JoeyLambeth to end the game.

Canyon View plays at Enterprise on Tuesday afternoon (4 p.m.) and then hosts Beaver on Friday.

Dixie 10, Payson 0
Dixie 11, Juab 0

The Flyers got a pair of mercy killings Saturday to capture the championship of the Donnie Pymm Classic.

In the early game, Matt Kitchen allowed just two hits and struck out four while shutting out the Lions. He had plenty of run support as Dixie racked up 12 hits and plated eight runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Tyson Miller, the No. 9 hitter for the Flyers, had a huge game with a single, a triple and four runs batted in. Chase Lundin and Miller had RBIs in the second inning to make it 2-0. It stayed that way until the fifth. Dixie brought 10 men to the plate in that inning. The big blow came from Miller, who hit a bases loaded triple that moved the lead from 6-0 to 9-0. Hobbs Nyberg ended the game in the next at-bat, singling Miller home to invoke the mercy rule.

In the championship game, Dixie left no doubt who would win as the Flyers got three runs in the first inning and seven in the second to put it away early.

Nyberg led off the bottom of the first with a single and eventually scored on an error after he stole second. After Cooper Vest was hit by a pitch, Tyson Fisher socked a deep homer to left to make it 3-0.

In the bottom of the second, Dixie brought 12 men to the plate in notching seven runs. The big blow came by Payden Harrah, who had a two-run double.

With ace Fisher on the mound, the game was secure for Dixie. Fisher allowed one hit in four innings of work, striking out six and walking none. Kayler Yates struck out the side in the fifth in relief as Dixie improved to 4-0 on the season.

Dixie’s bats have been amazing so far this season. The Flyers have 38 hits in four games and are averaging 9.8 runs per game. Stars Fisher and Nyberg have been swinging hot bats. Fisher is 8 for 10 with nine RBIs, two doubles and two homers. Nyberg is 7 for 11 with six runs scored.

Dixie hosts the Kent Garrett Pizza Hut Classic next week, with games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Dixie hosts Springville at 1 p.m. Thursday to kick off the tournament.

Desert Hills 5, Foothills (Nevada) 1
Desert Hills 7, Salem Hills 5

The early game was actually scoreless until the bottom of the sixth, when the Thunder batters finally figured out Falcons ace Tyler Kara.

With one out, Trey Allred singled and then stole second. After a walk by Bryker Hurdsman, Drew Thorpe broke the scoreless tie with an RBI single on a perfect bunt that scored Allred. Sam Rhoton lined the next pitch to center to score Hurdsman and make it 2-0.

Bronson Andrus followed with a single to left that made it 3-0. The next two runs came home on Foothill errors as it was 5-0 heading into the seventh. Thorpe was the winning pitcher, allowing just three hits and one walk in six innings of work. Allred closed the game and got the save.

In the championship game of the Summit Classic, the Thunder never trailed, although the Skyhawks made it interesting late.

Desert Hills grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Andrus lined a single to center that scored Blake Milne and Rhoton. The lead grew to 5-0 in the third when Andrus singled a run home and Jaden Peterson brought in two more with a hit.

Salem Hills score four in the top of the fourth to make it a 5-4 game, but DH answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run double by Kayden Goodman.

Lance Kinross pitched four innings of relief for D-Hills, earning the win while allowing no earned runs. Andrus had three hits in the game and he and Goodman had four hits in the two DH wins.

Desert Hills, 4-0, will host part two of the Summit Invitational next week with home games against Northridge on Thursday and Uintah on Friday.

Pine View 16, Granger 3

The Panthers went to 3-0-1 by blasting the Lancers at Panther Field Saturday.

Jaiger Crosby had a home run, a double and three RBIs and Pine View amassed 13 hits in the blowout. The game was called after five innings via the mercy rule.

Pine View opened the game with a six-spot. Tanner Staheli singled home Roman Lafemina to start off the top of the first, making it 1-0. After Staheli scored on an error, Porter Dombrowski made it 3-0 with an RBI single. Crosby then hit a three-run inside the park homer off the fence in center field to make it 6-0.

The Panthers added two runs in the second and two more in the third. Connor Moss had a two-run single as Pine View added six more runs in the fourth and then got the Lancers in the fifth to end the game.

Dawson Staheli got the win for Pine View, pitching three innings and allowing just one hit. He also had two hits, with teammate Lafemina scoring four times in the contest.

The Panthers host the Southern Utah Spring Kickoff Tournament next week, starting with a Thursday hime game against East at 8:30 p.m.

Highland 3, Hurricane 2 (F/9 inn.)

The Rams broke the tie in the bottom of the ninth when a Hurricane error permitted the game-winning run to cross the plate.

The Tigers led 2-0 early as Kage Akipoleki singled home Rylee Kent and Akipoleki scored later on an error in the top of the first.

Highland tied it with two in the bottom of the second and the score stayed knotted until the extra innings. Using the Kansas tiebreaker (a runner is placed at second base with no outs), Hurricane couldn’t get a run across in the top of the ninth. The Rams were able to end the game when a bunted ball by Trevor Jones with no outs was thrown away, allowing the base runner, Nate Poulson, to score from second.

Hurricane, 2-2, is co-host of the Southern Utah Spring Kickoff Tournament next week and will start it off with a home game Thursday night against Timpview at 6 p.m.

Union 3, Cedar 1
Payson 10, Cedar 7
Juab 3, Cedar 2

The Redmen are now 0-5 on the young season, but have had a chance in each of the five losses. In fact, Cedar’s five losses have come by a combined nine runs.

Participating in the Pymm Classic, Cedar fell to 4A Payson and 3A Juab and Union.

The Redmen will host South Sevier Wednesday afternoon before returning to St. George to play in the Southern Utah Spring Kickoff Tournament Thursday through Saturday.

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