Evans leads Timpanogos to 4A baseball title for 1st championship since 2008


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OREM — Timpanogos shortstop Tanner Evans knew after his first at-bat in the second game of the Class 4A state baseball championship that it was going to be a good Friday.

A home run will do that for almost anyone.

Evans crushed one of the first pitches he saw out of the park, and the Timberwolves used a six-run third inning to rout Region 7 rival Orem, 11-1 in five innings to win their first state title since 2008 at Brent Brown Ballpark at Utah Valley University.

“I was just trying to do what I could for my team,” said Evans, a senior who went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI. “They gave me pitches I could hit, and my teammates gave me opportunities to get those runs in.”

The Timberwolves (28-4) had to battle just to get a shot at the championship. Timpanogos pulled out a 9-6 win over Orem (26-5) earlier Friday to force a winner-take-all championship that began around 5 p.m. MT.

But after Evans and his team got through Orem ace Paxton Schultz in the first game with five runs on nine hits, they entered the second game with plenty of confidence. A quick stop back at the school for lunch relaxed the Timberwolves, and the fun-loving squad that has played together for nearly a fully two years started the game off right.

Evans’ solo shot over the left-field fence gave Timpanogos a 1-0 lead, and the Timberwolves added three runs in the bottom of the second with Evans’ RBI double and relief pitcher Derik Eaquinto, who gave up just one run and two hits with three strikeouts in the final two frames of the first game.

Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

“My arm felt great; it really did,” said Eaquinto, who also went 2-for-3 with two runs scored in the second game. “It shouldn’t have, but it really did.

Tyler Cornish pitched three innings of the second game to collect the win, allowing five hits with just one run and one strikeout. Eaquinto relieved him for the final two frames, fanning three in six at-bats to secure the win, despite pitching just two days ago.

“My arm didn’t feel great on Wednesday, so (the coaching staff) made me promise that it would be OK,” said Eaquinto, a sophomore. “I got it better, and I had to bargain with him a little to get the opportunity. But after one inning, I knew it would be good.”

Timpanogos lost on Tuesday, but came back through the one-loss bracket to face Orem on Friday morning. The route to the championship included five-straight comeback wins and a walkoff victory from DJ Martinez in Thursday afternoon’s one-loss bracket final.

“We lost Tuesday night and came back Wednesday, and that first game was hard,” Timpanogos coach Kim Nelson said. “Wood’s Cross played well, but I knew when we played as well as we did against Salem Hills that we had a chance. We could roll with this. And we did.”

The refocused Timberwolves didn’t have the luxury of looking ahead, and they showed it in a march to the program’s first championship in eight years. After the pandemonium on the field that briefly postponed the postgame trophy exchange, Nelson shivered as his players doused him with the water cooler.

An ice bath never felt so good.

“Our mindset was always to take one game at a time,” said Evans, who will report for a two-year mission for the LDS Church to Boston on June 29. “We just relaxed; we know that when we relax and have fun, that’s when we play our best games. That’s what we did.”

4A state baseball championship
Timpanogos 11, Orem 1

ORM 0 0 1 0 0 x x — 1 5 2
TIMP 1 3 6 1 x x x — 11 10 0
2B: Herman; Eaquinto.
HR: Evans.
WP: Cornish. LP: Van Buren.

OPENING GAME

Brayden Millet’s two-run single scored during a four-run seventh inning as Timpanogos baseball handed Orem its first loss of the postseason, 9-6, to force a winner-take-all final in the Class 4A state championship at Brent Brown Ballpark at Utah Valley University.

Derik Eaquinto added an RBI double down the rightfield line in the next at-bat, and Zach Swick scored on a wild pitch for the final margin for the Timberwolves.

Timpanogos (27-4) took the lead early during a three-run first inning highlighted by DJ Martinez’s two-run double that opened the scoring.

But the Tigers chipped away and took the lead at 6-5 on Jake Herman’s RBI double that skipped down the third-base line drove in pinch runner Ben Daley for his second run in the sixth inning.

Conner Halford was 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBI for the Timberwolves, and teammate Tyler Cornish went 2-for-3 with a run scored.

Fisher Hermansen went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead Orem (26-4).

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