On Tuesday, Fremont from Region 1 sent American Fork to the one-loss bracket in the 5A baseball tournament. This means for the Cavemen to win the state title, they have to win their next eight games.
American Fork accomplished Step 1 with a solid 6-0 win Wednesday afternoon against Hunter, the fourth place team from Region 2.
Austin Pitcher was especially dominant on the mound, shutting down the Wolverine attack allowing just three hits. Hunter never got a runner past first base.
Pitcher fanned 11 Wolverine hitters and used his breaking ball effectively, catching Hunter hitters off guard, leading to four strikeouts looking, three in the first inning. When Hunter did get some runners on base, the southpaw picked two Wolverine runners off.
“Austin did a great job today,” American Fork head coach Jared Ingersoll said. “We really have three No. 1 pitchers and we have some really good pitchers in the bullpen.”
Offensively American Fork played small ball, relying heavily on the bunt. Three of the seven Cavemen hits on the afternoon came via the bunt, plus American Fork executed three sacrifice bunts.
A sac bunt in the sixth inning by Cody Hall moved Hagen Holmstead and Seth Taylor into scoring position, this after Holmstead and Taylor laid down perfect bunt singles to start the inning. Then Emmett Green provided a double that plated Holmstead and Taylor and broke open a relatively close 3-0 contest.
This is the type of baseball Ingersoll thinks will be key as the Cavemen go forward.
“We did a good job executing (on bunts),” Ingersoll said. “This is something we do in our program. We believe it is part of winning baseball.”
Green was stellar offensively for American Fork. Besides the double, he reached based four times, scored two runs, had two RBI and stole a base.
“Green did a great job hitting the ball today,” Ingersoll said. “He had been struggling a bit but today he was the Emmett Green we have come to expect. He’s a leader for us.”
Hunter pitcher Brayden Dalmone battled through trouble throughout most of the game and got out of a bases load jam in the fourth. But much of Dalmone’s stress was self-inflicted. In the fourth inning he hit back-to-back hitters and Logan Flinders later scored on a wild pitch to give American Fork a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth inning, a wild pitch and a passed ball back on back-to-back pitches led to another Caveman score which set up the three-run barrage in the sixth that basically iced the game.
American Fork faces Viewmont on Monday at 7 p.m. The game will take place at Kearns.
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