High school baseball: Union and Canyon View secure their spots in 3A Championship Series

Four teams entered Thursday night looking to punch their ticket to the 3A Championship Series, but with only two spots available, something had to give.

Union and Canyon View emerged victorious against Manti and Morgan, respectively, to claim the honor. They will face off Friday night in Game 1 at 7 p.m. at Cate Field on the campus of Salt Lake Community College.

Union has won two 2A state championships, in 1988 and 1989, but one of these two teams will be crowned 3A Utah state champion for the first time in its history.

Union 9, Manti 1

No. 7-seed Union defeated No. 6-seed Manti for the second time in as many days to secure its spot in the 3A Championship Series.

The Cougars scored four runs in the second inning to start the scoring early. Tyson Marx hit a leadoff single to right field, then three consecutive walks to Camden Frandsen, Cade Frandsen and Peyton Marx loaded the bases and scored the first run of the game.

Gannon Labrum then hit a bases clearing double to extend Union’s lead to four runs. He hit 1 for 2 on the night and walked three times.

“It’s huge to get runs when you can… it lets everybody take a breath,” Union head coach Matt Labrum said. “I think everyone was a little uptight, so it was nice to see everybody be able to take a breath and just play baseball.”

Union’s patience at the plate was key as its batters walked a total of 11 times. Four of their nine runs scored reach base via walk.

“We want to stay in our zone and try to hit our pitches. We’re just going to fight and compete, and just try to win one pitch at a time. That’s kind of been our mentality”, said coach Labrum.

Peyton Marx pitched a complete game for Union and earned his eighth win of the season. He needed just 74 pitches to lead Union to victory. Marx was incredibly efficient on the mound, as he threw just six pitches in the third inning and seven pitches in the fourth.

He struck out two batters.

Marx also drove in four runs, helping himself out at the plate. Along with his bases loaded walk, he hit an RBI sacrifice fly in the sixth and a two-RBI double in the seventh.

Coach Labrum said, “He’s just a leader, he just makes these guys feel comfortable. They feel real confident when he’s on the mound, and then he swung it pretty good today, too.

“He’s a leader, and then we kind of push him to expand it a little bit. He’s positive and always real confident with everybody.”

The Cougars added two runs in the sixth and three in the seventh to extend their lead and ultimately put the game out of reach.

Canyon View 10, Morgan 3

No. 4-seed Canyon View clinched a spot in the 3A Championship Series with a 10-3 come-from-behind victory over No. 5-seed Morgan.

Canyon View found itself down early after an RBI triple by Morgan’s leading hitter, Ben Harden, in the top of the first inning. Brigham Spens had previously walked.

Canyon View head coach Jason Jacobsen said, “We’ve done it all year, there’s no need to panic. At some point, some way, you just keep relaxing and be ready for your opportunity. Whether it’s the first inning or the sixth inning, no need to panic.”

That exact mentality was exuded by Jacobsen’s team as the Falcons scored two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Leadoff hitter Trenton Ludlow reached on an error and was ultimately brought in on a single by Brady Anderson.

Zach Maine hit into a fielder’s choice ground ball that also scored a run for Canyon View.

Morgan would answer back in the top of the second inning after a bases loaded walk of Camron Talbot.

With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the third inning, Chandler McClellan drove in Zack Millett with an RBI single. It would be his first huge hit of the night.

With the game starting to take shape and emotions running high, Spens earned his third walk of the evening, this time with the bases loaded, to tie the game at 3-3.

The bottom of the fifth inning brought another opportunity for a clutch hit with McClellan at the plate. His two-out RBI single to right field delivered on that opportunity to completely shift the momentum toward Canyon View.

“We’ve been a really good two-out hitting team, and tonight we were able to come up right there,” Jacobsen said. “Chandler was big, an RBI earlier in the game and that one was big to get us the lead and settle everyone down a little bit.”

Canyon View then exploded for six more runs in the bottom of the sixth to seal the deal. It batted around the order and strung together six consecutive baserunners reached to put the game out of reach.

Junior Price Atwood entered the game in relief in the fifth inning and completely shut down any attempt at a comeback. He pitched three no-hit innings, and struck out three batters to earn the win.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Price. He’s kind of just waited his turn. Tonight, he did what every coach everywhere wants guys to do, be ready and come out and do your job,” Jacobsen said.