On Friday, Carbon hosted Providence Hall and put up eight runs over the first four innings to take a commanding lead. The beating was capped off with a four-run fourth inning that included an RBI triple by Ty Anderson and a two-run home run by Collin Lewis. Lewis went 2-4 with two RBIs while Anderson matched his two RBI total in the contest.
Keaton Rich had 4.1 innings of one-hit ball with seven strikeouts, giving up two unearned runs. Anderson, Lewis and Kaleb Nelson provided a combined 2.2 innings of one-hit relief without giving up a run. Carbon went on to win 8-2.
At Utah Valley University on Saturday, the Dinos opened play against an undefeated Westlake team. Westlake got on the board first with two runs in the fourth. Carbon cut the lead to one with Anthony Jones’ two-out single in the bottom of the fifth. Westlake answered back with two runs of its own in the sixth for a 4-1 advantage.
Carbon rallied in the bottom half of the inning when Anderson led off with a single followed by a Braxton Bennett walk. Collin Lewis was then hit by a pitch to load the bases full of Dinos with no outs. Carbon scored a pair of runs on two groundouts to close the gap, 4-3. With one at-bat left in the seventh, Carbon put runners on first and second with one out but could not tie the game. Carbon lost by a final score of 4-3.
The Dinos then competed against Orem in the following game. Carbon mustered five hits in the contest but was blanked 7-0 by the Tigers. The Dinos were not defensively sound with three errors and gave up seven runs, four earned, on seven hits. Lewis was a bright spot on offense going 2-4.
Carbon (4-6, 3-0 Region 14) will look to remain undefeated in region at American Legion Academy (0-8, 0-2 Region 14) on Tuesday and home against the Eagles on Friday. The Dinos will throw in another tough non-region match on Thursday at home against Provo (6-2, 0-0 Region 8).
Food For Thought
Head coach Jeff Cisneros before the season explained his preference of competing against high-quality competition in non-region contests. “Preseason records mean nothing,” he insisted.
It appears that the stiff competition has paid off for the Dinos thus far as they remain undefeated in region and nearly handed 6A Westlake its first loss of the season. There are many takeaways from games against high-caliber teams a group can receive, including the mindset and confidence that the Dinos have the ability to hang with good 6A teams (Westlake).
The Orem game, for instance, demonstrates the correlation of limiting mistakes on defense in order to limit runs. These messages become vital in close games and can be the difference between a state title run and getting knocked out early in the tournament.
Carbon looks to be improving as it learns a number of valuable lessons with its sights set on constant progression and success in the postseason.
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- Photos by Jeff Barrett
