AMERICAN FORK—With the season now over for the Templars, all that’s left is to think about where to climb from here.
Manti baseball ended their season last Thursday in the second round of the 3A state baseball championship tournament, falling to Grantsville, 13-5, in the one-loss bracket. They finished their season with an overall record of 10-16 in their first season under head coach Bryan Keisel.
The Templars collected six total hits against the Cowboys. Junior catcher Jake Tree, who emerged as a threat from the plate in these playoffs, scored two RBI to lead the team. Sophomore Reggie Frischknecht hit A triple and scored an RBI.
Despite being a heavy underdog in seeding, Manti came firing out of the gate against the Cowboys. The Templars scored all five of their runs in the top of the first inning and held a 5-4 lead going into the second inning. But while Manti’s bats abruptly went cold the rest of the game, Grantsville kept chugging along, scoring six runs at the bottom of the second inning to run away with the win.
Sophomore Britton Keisel pitched most of the game and allowed 11 hits while pitching three strikeouts.
The Templars graduate four seniors from their 2022 squad: Karson Parry, Carter Stevenson, Isaac Schoppe and A.J. Cox.