High school baseball: Orem survives Maple Mountain push to advance in 5A tournament

Orem players embrace pitcher Easton Davies after edging Maple Mountain 6-5 in the 5A baseball playoffs. | Brennan Smith

Orem hung in and absorbed all Maple Mountain could muster, capitalizing on early offense to survive and advance 6-5 in the 5A baseball playoffs.

“It’s what we’ve been living on all year long,” coach Carl Hermansen said. “Stay in the game, give us a chance at the end. These guys just find a way to keep winning.”

Orem led off with hot first inning bats, loading up the bases on a single, an error and a walk to set up a thunderous Hayden Hixson triple to bring home three runners.

“It was just a team effort right there,” Hixson said. “Get up, do your job and there’s nothing better about it.”

Orem added another run on a Cameron Humphries single and worked through its entire lineup against Maple Mountain starter Wally Averret.

Cooper Littledike replaced Averret in the second inning, surrendering a deep center double to Orem’s Cohen Strickland to make it 4-0 early. From there, the runs dried up and Orem found itself fending off a push from Maple Mountain.

In the bottom of the third, the Golden Eagles pounced on Orem starter Luke Kimmel, stringing together three straight singles with two outs to bring in three runs.

Bryant Sakamaki replaced Kimmel in the bottom of the fourth and promptly gave up another run when Maple Mountain’s Nolan Bird smashed a triple to the deep right center field fence to eat further into the deficit, 5-4.

On shaky ground, Hixson complimented the switch from early offense to stingy defense in helping Orem weather the middle innings. Freshman Easton Davies replaced Sakamaki in the bottom of the fifth to get out of a bases loaded jam and hung in for the rest of the game to keep Maple Mountain in check.

“Our defense has a lot to do with it,” Hixson said. “They really helped us stay in that game.”

Orem gained the slightest bit of breathing room in the top of the sixth as Kimmel scored on a fielding error at third base while Maple Mountain was attempting to make a tag.

“My base runners made it just tough enough on him that he kind of had to reach for it and the ball just popped out as he tagged him,” Hermansen said.

Maple Mountain found life in the bottom of the sixth, with Bird capitalizing on three straight unruly Davies pitches to score and put the pressure back on, 6-5.

From there, Davies found another gear and recorded two strikeouts and one flyout in the bottom of the seventh to get out of a nervy bases loaded jam and secure the victory.

“These kids just keep playing and keep playing,” Hermansen said. “I knew we were going to be a tough out.”

In the preceding afternoon game, Spanish Fork edged Salem Hills 5-4 to also advance to Wednesday’s winning side of the bracket.

The Dons kept Salem Hills’ bats in check, giving up only three hits all game and only one run beyond the first inning. Spanish Fork coach Casey Nelson credited his team for peaking at the right time and hanging in a tough game.

“I love how our guys are competing right now. They’re having a whole bunch of fun, they believe in each other and it’s just a fun atmosphere to be coaching in,” Nelson said.

Spanish Fork leaned on senior Mitch Dalton in relief of starter Bridger Hall to record double plays and guide the team through some tricky situations to combine with a pair of timely runs and a closing pitching effort from junior Zac Dart to gain the victory.

“We had a game plan to go to Zac Dart if we had the lead in the seventh inning. Getting that one run and putting Zac in, I knew we had a good chance,” Nelson said. “He’s one of the best competitors we have and one of the best competitors we’ve had in our program for a while.”

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