Manti Templars take second in 2A South, move on to post-season play
Bob Bahlmann
Staff writer
5-4-2017
MANTI—The Manti baseball team wrapped up league play this week with a tough loss to South Sevier by a score of 7-2, then a solid 7-4 win at South Summit, and winning its final regular season game 6-1 over American Leadership Academy.
In Manti on Tuesday, April 25, the Rams jumped out to a five-run lead in the top of the first. Manti responded with a pair of runs, but that was to be the last of the Templar scoring, while South Sevier added a pair of runs in the third for the win.
Kole Brailsford had the only extra-base hit for Manti, a double.
Friday, April 28, saw the Templars braving winter conditions on their trip to face South Summit. The Templars started fast with five runs in the top of the first, and added another in each of the third and sixth innings. The Wildcats scored two in the bottom of the fourth and again in the sixth, but came up well short of catching Manti.
Darron McClain earned winning pitcher honors for Manti and hit a double.
On Monday this week, the Templars clinched the second-place seed in the 2A Central Region with a home-field win over ALA. Before the game, Manti coach Jim Nelson said the Templars would need to hit well. It took a couple of innings, but Manti started putting the bat on the ball in the bottom of the third.
Darron McClain started the scoring with an RBI homerun over the leftfield fence.
Kole Brailsford hit an RBI double and then scored on a triple by Trever Trythall. Trythall scored on a single by Marshall Dotson to give Manti a 5-0 lead after three innings.
In the fourth, Jace Miller advanced to third on a McClain double and then scored on a sacrifice fly to deep left. ALA got on the board with its only run in the top of the seventh, but the game ended with the Templars ahead by five.
McClain had a homerun and a double, Nelson and Brailsford each had a double, and Trythall hit a triple. Casey Barnes went the distance from the mound.
The win gives the Templars a 7-3 record and second place in the 2A Central Region. They will advance to postseason play with their first game being played in Gunnison against Enterprise, the third-place seed from 2A South, this Saturday.
The Wolves started off the season hot with wins over Gunnison, Manti, South Sevier and Richfield. Lately, they have struggled a little and are 3-3 in their last six games.
Still, Coach Nelson knows his team will need to play well to beat Enterprise. “They can flat out hit,” he said. “We’ll need to do awfully good pitching and on defense.”
The game will follow the Gunnison game, which is scheduled for 10 a.m. The Bulldogs will play either North Summit or Rockwell. Winners of the two games will square off immediately following the Manti game, with the losing teams of the first two games playing the final game of the day in the double-elimination tournament.
