High school baseball: Monday’s 4A bracket play roundup, Desert Hills, Bear River rally for victory

However, the Bear River defense tightened after that.

Starnes pitched through five innings and piled up 10 strikeouts, but Garrison Davis finished the game on the mound for Bear River, and Timpanogos struggled.

Davis only recently returned to play after recovering from a broken leg. He finished the game without giving up any hits and throwing two strikeouts.

“Really happy to have him back,” said Donald Hawes. “We just got him back here about two weeks ago, and he’s been a big part of our rotation the last two years, especially at the back end of the games.

It’s just really good to have a guy back there that you trust and can say, ‘Hey, I’m going to give you the ball. Go have some fun.’”

Bear River piled in one more run in the seventh to win the game 9-5. The Bears advance to play No. 2 Desert Hills tomorrow.

Desert Hills 8, Crimson Cliffs 7

It took a few innings, but once No. 2 Desert Hills got going it was unstoppable. The Thunder fell behind early but mounted a huge comeback to beat Region 9 foe Crimson Cliffs 8-7 on day one of the 4A tournament.

The Mustangs’ defense was lethal through the first four innings. Pitcher Tyler Ransom was lethal on the mound and delivered eight strikeouts through five innings. When Desert Hills got a bat on the ball, the defense made plays.

Meanwhile, Crimson Cliffs brought home four runs for a 4-0 lead.

That all changed in the fourth inning.

Desert Hills was finally getting on base and took advantage of a Crimson Cliffs error to get two runners home. Then a triple from Isaac Swanson tied the game 4-4.

Crimson Cliffs brought home three more runners in the fifth, but Desert Hills drilled three home runs in the final two innings for the win.

The first was a single home run from Asher Williams. The second was a home run from Swanson, which tied it 7-7. Swanson led the Thunder with four RBIs in the win.

“He’s clutch, and he’s a gamer,” said Desert Hills coach Jagun Leavitt. “We trust him behind the plate as well. We trust Isaac, we love Isaac, and he loves his team.”

Then a final home run from Roah Wall gave it an 8-7 lead.

Defensively, the Thunder executed well to close out the game. Freshman pitcher Cohen Fuller replaced Wall on the mound in the third inning. Fuller delivered three strikeouts in the final two innings to hold Crimson Cliffs scoreless, which allowed Desert Hills to hold onto its slim 8-7 lead.

“We had Roah and Cohen,” Leavitt said. “They’re our big one-two punch. Having Cohen rolling as a freshman, he’s played in a lot of big baseball games, so seeing him perform today, it was something special.”