MT. PLEASANT—North Sanpete baseball saw the end of its season at the hands of one truly merciless pitcher.
The Hawks could not get anything moving as they struck out 19 times at the hands of pitcher Gage Adams and the Morgan Trojans, 4-1, in the No. 16 vs. No 17 play-in round of the UHSAA 3A State Championship tournament last Friday. The Hawks season ended with an overall record of 7-15 in their first season under head coach Austin Hadley.
North Sanpete Hawk Logan Black slugs away in the Hawks last game in the playoffs, a loss to the Morgan Trojans.
North Sanpete combined for four hits, most of which were in the seventh inning. Morgan’s senior pitcher tossed 16 strikeouts in just over five innings, which astonishingly was the third time he had done so this season.
The Hawks did a solid job in keeping Morgan off the scoreboard for much of the game as well. The Trojans had only five hits, and North Sanpete committed only a single fielding error. Seniors Kylan Taylor and Hunter Price pitched nearly equal halves of the game and combined for 11 strikeouts.
The Hawks faced a 4-0 deficit going into the final inning and needed to make something happen at home plate. Taylor managed a base hit off a grounder that bounced hard over the pitcher’s head into the outfield. When Taylor reached first base, an inadvertent collision caused a stoppage in play as Morgan’s first basema injured his ankle. He returned to play after some brief medical attention.
Taylor stole second base, then reached third on a hit from junior Angel Navarrete. Then junior Logan Black brought Taylor in on an RBI single out to left field.
Sophomore Bryson Perry nearly brought in Navarrete on the next sequence by hitting a ground ball to the same area of the field, but Morgan was not taken by it a second time, and Perry was put out at first base to end the game.
Hadley could not be reached for comment over the holiday weekend.
The Hawks graduate five seniors from this year’s squad: Taylor, Price, Brayden Olsen, Xander Shelley and Porter Taylor.