Region 9 baseball: 2019 top dogs split as inter-region play begins

ST. GEORGE — The Region 9 baseball regular season kicked off last week with teams facing each other for the first time, starting a journey for the first region title since 2019 in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The format is a two-game set home-and-home series against the same opponent starting on Tuesdays.

Pine View, Snow Canyon and Crimson Cliffs handed out series sweeps, each including at least one mercy rule. Elsewhere, Dixie and Desert Hills played a more even series, splitting the first two games the teams have played since meeting in the 2019 4A state title match. The series saw strong pitches performances on both sides.

Here are recaps from the action from the first week:

Dixie, Desert Hills split in 2019 state title rematch

Tuesday: Dixie 6, Desert Hills 3

Wednesday: Desert Hills 7, Dixie 3

After the Thunder trounced the Flyers at Dixie State University in the 2019 4A state championship match, Dixie bit back in the teams’ first meeting. At Dixie High, Desert Hills jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a Reggie Newby home run before Flyers starter Malcolm Bartholomew shut down the Thunder the rest of the way. Bartholomew struck out eight in seven innings and pitched around eight hits to only give up three runs. The top three hitters of the Flyers lineup, Jacob St. Cyr, Shea Anderson and Brieten Oaks collectively posted five hits, two triples, three runs on five RBIs.

Dixie baseball at Desert Hills, Thunder Field, St. George, Utah, March 24, 2021 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News

The Thunder got vengeance the next day on their home turf, however. Desert Hills once again jumped out to an early lead after an error, a single and an error in right field trying to pick up the single. Dixie committed five errors in the games leading to four unearned runs. Meanwhile, Thunder starter Payton Gubler controlled the Flyers offense over his six innings of work. He struck out nine and allowed only three hits, walking two. Dixie put together a seventh-inning rally capped by a homer by Oaks but got no closer. Grayson Erickson struck out 10 and allowed only three hits in 5.1 innings, but the five errors led to him allowing six runs. Only two were earned.

St. George News covered this series in greater depth in this story.

In non-region competition, Desert Hills went 3-0 against Union, Grand County and Carbon. The Thunder play Cedar this week.

Dixie had a tougher run through non-region play, dropping all four to American Fork, Pleasant Grove, Spanish Fork and Skyridge. The Flyers host Canyon View on Tuesday next.

Crimson announces itself to Region 9 with no-hitter, sweep of Canyon View

Tuesday: Crimson Cliffs 10, Canyon View 0

Wednesday: Crimson Cliffs 13, Canyon View 12 (11 innings)

The Crimson Cliffs Mustangs claimed their first ever Region 9 win in emphatic fashion on Tuesday.

Richfield at Crimson Cliffs baseball, Crimson Cliffs High School, Washington City, Utah, March 26, 2021 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News

The Mustangs got a combined no-hitter behind Brexten Starley and Chase Hansen. Starley struck out five and walked two in his five innings of work and Hansen struck out two and walked to in the sixth. Petey Soto launched a home run on the first pitch the Mustangs saw from Canyon View pitching and never trailed from there. Logan West hit an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to bring the score to 10-0, giving the Mustangs the walk-off mercy rule. Soto, Trey Evans, West and AJ Johnson each had two hits for Crimson Cliffs and Matt Hafen had three. For Canyon View, Brayden Winn struck out three in four innings and gave up six earned runs and one unearned to take the loss.

As the series shifted to Cedar City on Wednesday, the Falcons got much closer. Crimson exploded for four runs in the top of the first and took an 11-5 lead into the seventh inning before Canyon View rallied for six to knot the score in their last chance. Canyon View drew a walk, hit by pitch and another walk before Chase Calvez lined a triple to cut the lead in half. Eventually, Bodee Burrows scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.

Neither team scored in the eighth or ninth but Starley drove in West with a single in the 10th to put the Mustangs back on top. Canyon View tied it on an RBI single by Kade Shortt in the bottom half. Finally, in the 11th, Matt MacArthur scored on a passed ball to reach the final score. Parker Andrus allowed a single in the bottom half but held the lead for the win.

The Mustangs won two non-region games against Richfield and Kanab in a Friday doubleheader to move to 9-3. Crimson Cliffs starts its series with Pine View on the road on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Canyon View beat Duchesne before dropping to Parowan, Richfield and Kanab on the weekend. The Falcons sit at 4-8 before they travel to Dixie on Tuesday.

Snow Canyon puts up 20 twice on Cedar

Tuesday: Snow Canyon 24, Cedar 0

Wednesday: Snow Canyon 21, Cedar 4

The Warriors showed why they are the heavy favorites in Region 9 with two dominant performances against Cedar.

On Tuesday, Snow Canyon rallied for two runs in the first and four in the second before blowing the Reds out of the water in the fourth. They scored 18 runs in a single inning. Cedar walked the first four batters in the fourth before Mayze Mosher singled and Easton Rigby doubled. After a flyout, the next seven reached base for the Warriors. Following a fielder’s choice, the next four reached, capped by a Luke Anderson three-run homer. In total, they tallied 11 hits in the fourth inning alone. Three were doubles and one was Anderson’s homer. They also drew six walks in the frame.

Seven Warriors had multi-hit games led by Mosher’s three. Mosher also drove in five runs. Mason Strong drove in four and Anderson, Landon Frei and Sam Lindsey each drove in two.

On the mound, Carston Herman struck out 10 in four innings and allowed just two hits and one walk. Easton Schwendiman threw a clean fifth inning to secure the mercy rule.

Things didn’t get much better for the Reds on their home turf the next day. They started strong as Kolby White issued a leadoff walk to Anderson before striking out the next three in the inning. In the bottom of the first the Reds put together three runs to take the lead. Cedar collected five hits in six batters. White hit a one-out single then scored after a Miles Topham single following a ground out. Lawson Black hit a double, Calvin Slack hit a single and Callister drove in the third run on a knock to left.

Snow Canyon didn’t let the fun times last, squashing them emphatically with a 14-run second. Snow Canyon drew five walks, slapped four singles, two doubles, a triple and a homer by Lindsey. For good measure, the Warriors scored in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings, totaling six runs, to pad the lead before the mercy rule took effect.

The Warriors collected 10 total extra-base hits, six of which were doubles. Frei collected four hits and he and Mosher each drove in five runs.

Josh Akins allowed four runs, only one earned, in his three innings in the start for the Warriors. Jackson Ence locked down the last two innings, allowing a run on three hits.

Snow Canyon topped Salem Hills 4-2 on Friday and Jordan 12-2 and Herriman 15-0 at Jordan High on Saturday. The Warriors travel to Hurricane on Tuesday.

Cedar dropped back-to-back games to Carbon on Thursday to fall to 0-8. They play at Desert Hills on Tuesday.

Pine View sweeps Hurricane

Tuesday: Pine View 3, Hurricane 0

Friday: Pine View 18, Hurricane 3

The Panthers got the sweep against the far-East rival Hurricane in opening week.

Pine View baseball at Hurricane, Hurricane High School, Hurricane, Utah, March 26, 2021 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News

At home on Tuesday, Brock Roundy stifled the Tigers’ offense in a complete game shutout. He struck out seven and walked two. All three of his hits allowed were singles. Roundy retired the first six hitters of the game and didn’t allow a hit until the top of the fourth when Grant Scholzen reached on a grounder to short.

Pine View needed that level of pitching, however, as they didn’t score in the first five innings. Josh Wright also didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning. In the sixth, Wright began to waver and allowed a leadoff single, a fly out, another single then back-to-back walks to score the first run of the game. Brandon Roundy then gave his twin some insurance with a two-RBI single, his second hit of the day. Brock Roundy then allowed a leadoff single in the seventh but got a pop out, strikeout and ground out to end the game.

On Friday, it was all Pine View. The Panthers scored four runs in the top of the first, which turned out to be enough to win the game alone. Both Roundys drove in a run in the inning and Ian Becker drove in a pair with a single. Hurricane rallied for two in the bottom half on a Wright homer off Traton Staheli.

Pine View added two in the second and three in the third before exploding for eight in the fourth as six Panthers reached via walk or hit by pitch.

Hurricane’s only other run came in the third when Tanner Pastor drove in Scholzen on a double.

Staheli allowed all three runs in his three innings of work. He allowed only two hits and struck out six, but walked three and threw four wild pitches. Brandon Roundy and Brady Barney each threw a scoreless inning of relief.

For Hurricane, Kel Webb was tagged for 14 runs in 3.1 innings, though only nine were earned. Kaz Hughes allowed a trio of runs in .1 innings and Pastor allowed another in 1.1 innings.

Pine View moved to 8-1 overall and did not play any non-region contests. They host Crimson Cliffs next.

Hurricane dropped to 2-8, including a 22-14 victory over Enterprise on Wednesday. The Tigers host Snow Canyon to start this week’s series.

Tuesday’s game schedule (March 30)

  • Canyon View at Dixie
  • Cedar at Desert Hills
  • Crimson Cliffs at Pine View
  • Snow Canyon at Hurricane

Region 9 baseball standings, as of March 29

  1. Pine View 2-0 (12-1)
  2. Snow Canyon 2-0 (8-1)
  3. Crimson Cliffs 2-0 (9-3)
  4. Desert Hills 1-1 (11-1)
  5. Dixie 1-1 (5-6)
  6. Canyon View 0-2 (4-8)
  7. Hurricane 0-2 (2-8)
  8. Cedar 0-2 (0-8)

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!