Emery baseball wins 2 in first round of state tourney

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports Writer

Upsets were the norm last Saturday as the Utah State 2-A baseball tournament began at the four home sites of the region champions with three of those region champions losing a game at home. Region 15 teams did very well as they won six out of the eight games they played.
Emery traveled to Beaver and after defeating North Sevier 4-0 to open the tournament, gave the host team their first loss of the season. Final score was Spartans 3 Beavers 2. Summit Academy hosted games and lost both of those, one to San Juan, a member of region 15 while Manti hosted games and opened the tournament by losing to region 15’s Richfield 6-2. Region 15 co-champion Grand was the only host team to win both of their home games.
Emery opened the play on Saturday with the game against North Sevier. Carson Healy was the starting pitcher for Emery and gave up just three base hits in the game with two of those coming in the seventh inning. Baylee Bolotas came on in relief and got the final two outs to secure the win for Emery.
Emery scored all their runs in the bottom of the third inning. Ethan Tuttle opened with a single followed by Gavin McDermott hitting a double. Tanner Lake and Ridge Nielson both walked and Tappan Draper hit a single as four Emery runners scored.
Against Beaver, Dillon Wilstead started on the mound and pitched a complete game two-hitter in grabbing the victory. Emery hit Beaver’s ace pitcher hard all game long as the Spartans had seven base hits in the game.
Emery scored two runs in the fifth inning and another run in the sixth inning. In the fifth, McDermott hit a double followed by Lake hitting a double. After Nielson got on base due to a Beaver error, Draper singled to score the second run. In the sixth inning, Marco Mota hit a solo home run to give Emery some breathing room, which they ended up needing.
Beaver scored their first run in the bottom of the sixth inning. After a Beaver runner got to third base, the runner scored on a wild pitch by Wilstead. In the seventh inning, Wilstead got the first two batters out, one on a pop up and the other on a short fly ball to the outfield. This is where life got very interesting for both teams as one tried to stage a comeback and the other tried to hold on to a lead.
The third batter was hit by a pitch to put a runner on base. The next runner walked and the fifth batter singled to load the bases. Wilstead then was called with a balk and the runners advanced giving Beaver their second run. The next batter then hit a good ball to center field but McDermott was able to run it down, make the catch and end the game with one team celebrating and the other team devastated.
Emery finished the regular season by winning their final three games to finish the region season at 8-2, co-champions with Grand. Emery defeated South Sevier twice and San Juan once to finish the season. The first South Sevier score was 9-0 and the second was 4-1. The score of the San Juan game was 6-4. Healy was the winning pitcher in both South Sevier games while Wilstead was the winner at San Juan.
In the first game against the Rams, Healy threw a one-hitter. Emery scored three runs in the third inning, three more in the fourth inning, a single run in the fifth inning and the final two in the sixth inning. Offensively, six Spartans had extra-base hits as the Spartans had a total of 10 hits in the game. Wilstead, Mark Debry, Nielson, Lake and Tyson Roper all hit doubles while Draper had a triple,
In the second game against South Sevier, Emery scored six runs in the first inning, two runs in the second inning, three more in the third, two in the fifth and the final three in the sixth inning. Tuttle and Nielson each had a double in the game while Draper had a pair of doubles. Nielson also had a triple. Wilstead, McDermott and Lake each hit a home run in the game. Against San Juan, Emery built a lead and then gave up three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to make the game close. Emery scored a single run in the first inning, three runs in the fifth inning and two runs in the seventh inning. Emery had eight base hits in this game with Tuttle and Lake each hitting a double for the only two extra base hits.
Emery will now continue 2-A play this Thursday with a game at 11 am against Millard High at Kearns High School in Salt Lake County. Millard was the fourth seed out of their region but won two big games last week. Millard defeated host Summit Academy 9-7 in nine innings and then defeated Gunnison Valley High 17-2. Twelve teams will continue play throughout three days concluding on Saturday until one team is crowned the state champion.