QUINIX Sport News: High school baseball: Maple Mountain stays perfect in Region 7 with dominant win over Wasatch

Maple Mountain won its first ever state championship last season and it’s putting up a strong bid to repeat.

The Golden Eagles have earned a 17-1 overall record so far this season and improved to 7-0 in Region 7 with a commanding 11-1 win over Wasatch Tuesday afternoon.

Defense has been a large part of the identity of this years’ Maple Mountain squad as it allows just 2.4 runs per game. The Golden Eagles have allowed the second fewest runs in 5A this season, sitting behind only Brighton.

The defensive focus especially shined for Maple Mountain in Tuesday’s win over Wasatch. The Wasps only managed to get four runners on base, with three of the five innings ending with all three Wasp hitters getting out.

“Defense has been kind of our thing,” said Maple Mountain head coach Jeremy Thomas. “We’ve always been about pitching and defense. We want our pitchers to pound the zone and we expect our defense to make plays behind him. Today we did and when you combine that with hitting like we hit today, we’re going to be tough to beat.”

The Golden Eagles’ batting was just as strong as their defense. The first three Maple Mountain batters all got on base and Chase Johnston hit a grand slam for an early 4-0 lead. The hitting wavered a bit in the second and third innings with Wasatch pitcher Blake Sweat recording three strikeouts.

Maple Mountain got back on track in the fourth inning with senior AJ Thomas hitting a home run with two runners on base. Cy Chrisman stepped up right after Thomas and hit yet another home run as the Golden Eagles took an 8-0 lead.

Thomas said his team’s hitting has been one of the biggest improvements he’s seen since the beggining of the season.

“Hitting was one of the things that we’ve struggled with a little bit early on,” Thomas said. “A lot of the reason is because we’re inside all winter and you get some cold weather games and it’s it’s not easy. But now we’re getting more quality at bats, hitting balls hard and then striking out less, which has been one of the things that has hurt us throughout the year.”

Wasatch finally managed to get a run in the fifth inning with a single from Micah Dahl and Eddie Bluth hitting a double to get Dahl home. The celebration didn’t last long for the Wasps as AJ Thomas hit a walk-off home run with a runner on base for the 11-1 mercy rule finish.

“We were pretty rough at bat at the start of the season,” Thomas said. “Coach told us, ‘If you really want to make another state run you really have to lock it in with the at bats.’ And that’s what we’ve really done. We’ve been working so much at batting practice and he’s an amazing coach and gave us opprotunities to grow.”

Teams are starting to look toward the state tournament with just two weeks left in the regular season and Maple Mountain is no exception.

“I feel really good about it,” said Thomas. “One of the things that we really try to do every day is to get better every day, get better every game and to really kind of focus on the details. We’ve done a lot of of really good things to get better and I see us getting better and our confidence is getting better and there’s nothing better than than having your confidence match your skill level and and we’re doing that right now.”

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Maple Mountain won its first ever state championship last season and it’s putting up a strong bid to repeat.

The Golden Eagles have earned a 17-1 overall record so far this season and improved to 7-0 in Region 7 with a commanding 11-1 win over Wasatch Tuesday afternoon.

Defense has been a large part of the identity of this years’ Maple Mountain squad as it allows just 2.4 runs per game. The Golden Eagles have allowed the second fewest runs in 5A this season, sitting behind only Brighton.

The defensive focus especially shined for Maple Mountain in Tuesday’s win over Wasatch. The Wasps only managed to get four runners on base, with three of the five innings ending with all three Wasp hitters getting out.

“Defense has been kind of our thing,” said Maple Mountain head coach Jeremy Thomas. “We’ve always been about pitching and defense. We want our pitchers to pound the zone and we expect our defense to make plays behind him. Today we did and when you combine that with hitting like we hit today, we’re going to be tough to beat.”

The Golden Eagles’ batting was just as strong as their defense. The first three Maple Mountain batters all got on base and Chase Johnston hit a grand slam for an early 4-0 lead. The hitting wavered a bit in the second and third innings with Wasatch pitcher Blake Sweat recording three strikeouts.

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Maple Mountain got back on track in the fourth inning with senior AJ Thomas hitting a home run with two runners on base. Cy Chrisman stepped up right after Thomas and hit yet another home run as the Golden Eagles took an 8-0 lead.

Thomas said his team’s hitting has been one of the biggest improvements he’s seen since the beggining of the season.

“Hitting was one of the things that we’ve struggled with a little bit early on,” Thomas said. “A lot of the reason is because we’re inside all winter and you get some cold weather games and it’s it’s not easy. But now we’re getting more quality at bats, hitting balls hard and then striking out less, which has been one of the things that has hurt us throughout the year.”

Wasatch finally managed to get a run in the fifth inning with a single from Micah Dahl and Eddie Bluth hitting a double to get Dahl home. The celebration didn’t last long for the Wasps as AJ Thomas hit a walk-off home run with a runner on base for the 11-1 mercy rule finish.

“We were pretty rough at bat at the start of the season,” Thomas said. “Coach told us, ‘If you really want to make another state run you really have to lock it in with the at bats.’ And that’s what we’ve really done. We’ve been working so much at batting practice and he’s an amazing coach and gave us opprotunities to grow.”

Teams are starting to look toward the state tournament with just two weeks left in the regular season and Maple Mountain is no exception.

“I feel really good about it,” said Thomas. “One of the things that we really try to do every day is to get better every day, get better every game and to really kind of focus on the details. We’ve done a lot of of really good things to get better and I see us getting better and our confidence is getting better and there’s nothing better than than having your confidence match your skill level and and we’re doing that right now.”