After finishing the region season in third place, the Emery Spartans are set for two ball games this Saturday at Judge Memorial High School in Salt Lake City. As of press time, Emery did not know their opponent. They will face the second place team out of region 11, either Grantsville or Logan. Both teams stood at 6-3 in region play as both missed a game due to weather. They split their games against each other this season so that does not help settle the issue. The other two teams at the site will be host Judge and region 9 fourth place team Hurricane.
Judge is the number one ranked team in 3-A baseball as the tournament begins with a 9-1 region record and an overall 19-3 record. Logan is 13-8 overall while Grantsville was 8-12 overall. Hurricane had a 4-6 region record and finished the season 10-12. Emery had a 6-5 region record and an overall 14-7 record.
Again as of press time, Emery will be without the services of Kyler Edgehouse. Edgehouse has missed the last couple of games because of illness and it appears that he will not compete again this season. Edgehouse was the leader of the pitching staff and always gave Emery a shot at a win when he was on the mound. Edgehouse was also a pretty good infielder and a good hitter. He will be missed.
In Emery’s last region contest, the Spartans lost a close one to Juan Diego, the region leader. Final score of the game was 8-5. Juan Diego scored five runs in the second inning and three more in the fourth inning for their eight runs.
Kade Jones and Ryan Draper led off the game for Emery by getting walked. Jones was thrown out trying to steal third base and Emery’s inning was over when Blake Mortensen grounded out. Steve Giles got on base in the second inning due to a Juan Diego error but was the only one to do so as two batters grounded out and one batter struck out.
After three up, three down in the third inning, Emery scored their first one of the game in the fourth inning. Mortensen singled, Ryne Jones singled and Mortensen scored as Giles again got on base due to a Juan Diego error.
Emery added another run in the fifth inning. Kesler Tanner walked, got to second base as Kade was hit by a pitch and scored on a fielder’s choice hit by Draper.
Emery scored three final runs in the seventh inning. Tanner singled and Kade then hit into a fielder’s choice to replace Tanner on base. Draper singled, Justice got the runners to advance on a soft hit to the pitcher that resulted in an out and then Mortensen tripled to score to runners. Mortensen then scored on a single by Ryne Jones. Giles struck out to end the game.
To advance to the state tournament the next weekend, Emery must win one of the two games this week. Good luck Spartans in your quest.
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