American Fork starter Dalton Smith and reliever Maddux Madsen combined to strike out four of the last five batters in Game 1 of Friday’s 6A baseball state championship series. Considering the way Pleasant Grove crushed the ball off Smith in the early innings, his ability to settle down and get stronger throughout his 6⅓ innings of work is a major reason the Cavemen are on the doorstep of their first state championship since 2016.
American Fork twice overcame multi-run deficits against Pleasant Grove at UVU on Friday night, eventually pulling away for the 9-6 victory in front of a nearly-packed UCCU Ballpark.
The Cavemen will try and close out the best-of-three series on Saturday in Game 2 at 11 a.m. A Pleasant Grove win in Game 2 would force a third game to be played immediately afterward.
Smith was the difference in getting American Fork the series lead.
After giving up five runs on eight hits in the first two innings — five of them extra base hits — Smith only allowed four hits over the final five innings as the frustration grew for Pleasant Grove’s batters each inning.
In the Region 4 series between these teams earlier this season, Smith dominated Pleasant Grove in five innings of shutout baseball in the 10-0 win.
Right off the bat on Friday, Pleasant Grove’s hitters sent a message to Smith that it wouldn’t be quite so easy this time around. Kyler Lester led off the game with a triple, and when Ryker Schow followed with a double and then a triple by Ty Johnsen, the Vikings were quickly ahead 2-0.
Jordan Pace popped out in foul territory to the first baseman on the next at bat, but nobody covered home, allowing Johnsen to trot home for the pop-out sacrifice fly and the 3-0 lead.
It was a short-lived lead for Pleasant Grove.
American Fork scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, capitalizing on two walks, a hit batter and a two-run throwing error on an inning-ending double-play attempt by the Vikings.
As quickly as Pleasant Grove lost the lead in the first, it seized it right back in the second with Ty Caldwell leading off with a triple and then scoring on Lester’s double into the gap. A single by Pace drove in Lester as the Vikings regained the 5-3 lead.
By the time Pleasant Grove’s hitters came to bat again in the third, the lead was gone and it would never lead again.
American Fork sent nine batters to the plate in the second inning, scoring four runs on five hits. Fisher Ingersoll delivered a single off the wall to drive in one run, while Josh Rojas singled in two runs of his own on a single that one-hopped the left-field wall.
Leading 7-5 after two, American Fork added another run in the fourth and then one last insurance run in the fifth on an RBI double from Ingersoll as he continued his torrid hitting streak during the state tournament.
With his 3 for 3 outing on Friday, Ingersoll is now 10 for 12 with seven RBIs in the four games played at UVU. He also has three walks for an .866 on-base percentage.
Including his performance in American Fork’s two second-round wins over Corner Canyon prior to the tourney shifting to UVU, Ingersoll’s state tournament batting average is .764 with an .809 on-base percentage.
All of that came on the heels of an 0 for 4, four strikeout performance against Lone Peak in the final game of the regular season.
That remarkable turn of events has been the catalyst to American Fork’s march through the playoffs.
Along with Ingersoll’s two RBIs on Friday, Rojas drove in three runs while leadoff hitter Ryder Robinson went 3 for 4 with three runs scored.
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/3vKblbn
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