Gunnison tops Sanpete teams at Hillsports baseball tournament
By Sean Hales
3-19-08

GUNNISON—Three Sanpete County baseball teams were in action last weekend at the Hillsports Spring Classic baseball tournament in Gunnison.
The Gunnison Bulldogs earned the best finish of Sanpete teams, even though the tournament was called due to snowy weather. A win over Morgan, 6-3, in their first game on Friday and a 1-0 loss to Canyon View on Saturday put Gunnison in a scheduled game against Cedar for third and fourth places, but the game was canceled.
The North Sanpete Hawks, one of several 3A teams at the event, lost to Morgan on Saturday to take sixth place after losing to Cedar City 12-5 on Friday and beating Manti 11-5 on Saturday morning.
The Manti Templars finished the tournament in seventh place with a convincing 11-7 win over Ogden on Saturday after losing games to 3A Union, 15-2, on Friday, and North Sanpete.
Gunnison’s contest on Saturday against Canyon View for a berth in the tournament championship game was a pitcher’s duel with more than 20 strikeouts thrown in the contest.
Even so, said Gunnison head coach Jared Anderson, the Bulldogs doubled-up Canyon View in numbers of runners on bases. “We had our opportunities but we didn’t cash in.”
Canyon View had three hits by the top of the seventh inning, but would add no more. Three walks, an error and a passed pitch by the Bulldogs gave the Falcons the only run they would need to win.
Gunnison generated an opportunity in the bottom of the seventh.
“We had our two fastest guys on the base paths so we were in good shape,” said Anderson. But Max Sanders, who was on third when Heston Neal was on second, got caught in a rundown when a squeeze-play bunt was not executed well.
A hit and a stolen base moved Neal to third. But with two outs, a full count and being at the bottom of the lineup forced head coach Jared Anderson to take a risk and try to steal home. It didn’t pay off.
“I’d do it again,” Anderson said of the attempt to steal home. “He almost made it. He almost stole home. He’s going to break our stolen base record.”
Against Morgan on Friday, Gunnison pitcher Bradley Jackson recorded 12 strikeouts.
Sanders, Anderson said, was a big help in the tournament, and has been a leader all year offensively. According to Anderson in the last six games Sanders has hit .650 and has 10 runs on the year.
The North Sanpete Hawks were helped in their 11-5 win over Manti as much with Tyler Daniels’ two home runs as with Manti’s six errors.
However, the game didn’t always look so lopsided.
Manti jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the first inning, but it wasn’t to last. North Sanpete tied it up in the bottom of the third before racking up nine runs in two innings: six in the fourth and three in the fifth.
“Our pitchers pitched well,” said Manti head coach Tom Trythall. “Our defense let them down.” Trythall said Manti put up nearly all of their six errors in those two innings. “It’s hard to win like that,” he said. “Six errors is two extra innings.”
In the contest against Morgan, North Sanpete was only down by two, 5-3, at the end of the fourth inning. However, the Trojans pounded the Hawks for eight runs in the fifth. North Sanpete was unable to respond, and the game was called.
In Manti’s last game of the tournament, Templar batters put balls where the defense wasn’t and capitalized on singles as they put up 14 hits against Ogden, only two of which went for extra bases.
Trythall said he was pleased with his batters in the game, especially late in the tournament and in the week when “everyone’s down on pitchers.”
Manti had nine runs after the top of the fifth inning before Ogden could get anything going. The opponent put up all seven of its runs in the fifth and sixth inning.
Trythall said the comfortable lead allowed his team to stay relaxed and focused when Ogden made its run, which made the difference.