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OREM — Grantsville completed an unexpected run through the Class 3A state tournament with an 8-7 victory over Desert Hills Saturday to claim its first state baseball championship since 2000.
The game was tied 1-1 in the top of the fourth when Grantsville’s Clay Matthews stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded.
Grantsville baseball coach Loren Anderson called for a suicide squeeze hoping for the Cowboys' No. 9 hitter to bring in a run.
Matthews had other plans.
“I told him to give me one pitch,” Matthews said. “If I miss it we’ll squeeze.”
He didn’t miss.
Matthews sent a moon shot over the left field fence at Brent Brown Ballpark for a grand slam to give his team a five-run lead.
It was his first home run of the season.
“We find a way in every game,” Matthews said while celebrating the championship. “We find a way.”
Grantsville took an 8-1 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning but Desert Hills rallied by scoring five runs in the inning to close the gap to 8-6.
Dylan File, who had a great tournament at the plate and on the mound, had three RBIs for Desert Hills, A home run by Braiden Irvin in the sixth inning cut the gap to just one.
Grantsville pitcher Wyatt Barrus went the distance and held off the Thunder charge to get the victory.
“It means a lot to this community obviously,” Barrus said after the win. “This is a small town and everyone is rooting for us. It hasn’t happened in 14 years. We thought there was magic on this field because last time we won it was on this field. We turned out to be right.”
It was Grantsville’s fifth baseball state championship and first in 3A.
