High school baseball: After losing Game 2, Lehi rallies to beat Corner Canyon and clinch 6A championship

After the Lehi Pioneers dropped Game 2 of the 6A baseball championship series 5-3 to the Corner Canyon Chargers early Saturday, the two sides met again later in the day for all the marbles.

In a back-and-forth affair and through some adversity, Lehi was able to overcome the obstacles it faced to defeat Corner Canyon by a score of 7-5.

The win clinched the Pioneers’ second title in three years.

With Corner Canyon winning the middle game of the series, Lehi was out for revenge in Game 3, unhappy with the amount of defensive errors that occurred in the field.

“Our guys were not happy with what transpired in Game 2. Corner Canyon did a great job. They came out and competed. The one thing I told our kids the other day was that they remind me of us with the way they go out, compete, play hard and try to get after it,” said Lehi head coach Eric Madsen.

With everything to play for, Game 3 was a back-and-forth affair. This time around Lehi got on the scoreboard first, with Boston Drakulich scoring on a sac fly in the bottom of the first inning to take the early lead.

In a close game with Lehi up 3-2 in the top of the fourth, Corner Canyon broke through with three runs thanks to two RBIs from Garrett Downing and one from Ryder Florence.

With the three-run fourth, the Chargers suddenly found themselves up 5-3 heading into the bottom half of the inning, where Lehi scored on a single up the middle by Ozzie Williams that drove in a run, making it a 5-4 ballgame.

In the bottom of the sixth inning with time running out for Lehi, Cole Ybarra got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to tie the game. Then the Pioneers got some clutch hitting from catcher Brandon Manookin, who ripped a double to the center field fence to bring in two runs and make the score 7-5 heading into Corner Canyon’s last chance at the plate.

Caleb Crutchfield silenced the Charger bats in the seventh inning, sealing the championship for Lehi.

“You know what, our guys are tough and they’ve gotten tougher as the year has gone on,” Madsen said. “I really enjoyed this whole year. Realistically, being with my boys is what it’s all about and they’re all my boys now. It has been fun to watch the guys play ball like they have.”

Game 2 earlier in the day was a game that Corner Canyon dominated throughout, as it was not ready for its season to be over quite yet. The Chargers were led at the plate by Nathan Horstmann, who went 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs.

Rylan Dunn also got on the scoresheet, blasting a solo home run over the left field fence to lead off the top of the second inning.

Corner Canyon got a strong pitching performance from starter Andrew Nice, who pitched 6 1/3 inning with four strikeouts and giving up just three hits.

The Chargers took advantage of four Lehi errors in the field, scoring five runs in the first two innings to get out to an early and comfortable 5-0 lead.

Corner Canyon scored one run in the first inning on a sacrifice fly to right that scored Florence. The Chargers went on to score four times in the second inning, getting three RBIs from Horstmann and one apiece from Kash Koncar and Dunn.