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American Fork's Bentley Taggart is greeted by his teammates after hitting a 2-run home run during his team's 8-4 win over Farmington. May 13, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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American Fork ace Kenny Johnson pitched four scoreless innings versus Farmington on Wednesday. May 13, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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American Fork's Talon Willardson rounds the bases following his home run hit versus Farmington on Wednesday. May 13, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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American Fork catcher Cache Poulson ropes an RBI hit during his team's 8-4 win over Farmington on Wednesday. May 13, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Provo Daily Herald

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Dominant starting pitching along with constant pressure put on the opponent pitching up and down the batting order is typically a great combination for any baseball team. And for defending 6A champion American Fork, all of the above came together effectively in providing a satisfying 8-4 win over Farmington during regional action on Wednesday.

But that’s not to say it all went smoothly and without challenge, however.

With the Cavemen cruising to a 5-0 lead after four innings, the Phoenix bats woke up in the fifth inning. After loading the bases full due to an uncommon string of bases-on-balls dealt by American Fork’s bullpen, Ryland Drollinger roped a bases-clearing double to suddenly cut the score to 5-3.

Farmington then appeared to close the score to 5-4 one batter later with a single hit to right field before River Litke impressively threw Drollinger out at the plate to get out of the inning while maintaining a 2-run lead. That lead was then pushed back to 7-3 after Talon Willardson smashed a fastball over the left field fence.

“I got into a good 3-1 count and just stayed ready and tried to stay smooth and easy to the ball,” Willardson said of his approach at the plate. “I had a feeling it was gone the moment I hit it, and it was great to be able to get that for my team.”

“Every time someone scores it’s important that we try and answer right back and Talon gave a great answer there,” added American Fork coach Jarod Ingersoll. “Baseball is a game of momentum, so Talon made a great swing and helped us get back that momentum, which is important.”

Also important is putting on constant pressure from the plate, which is exactly what the Cavemen did in scoring runs during every inning played during Wednesday’s win. Everyone in the batting order seemed to get in on the action, providing constant traffic on the bases with eight of the runners coming around to score.

Although pleased with the overall production from the plate, Ingersoll wasn’t completely satisfied with the effort.

“I feel we left some runs out there, but we’ll work on that and be better with that tomorrow,” he said. “But yeah, I was pleased with scoring runs during every inning today. That’s a big thing and it took a lot of pressure off some of our guys.”

As mentioned, dominant pitching typically works as a big component in providing wins, and on Wednesday American Fork ace pitcher Kenny Johnson was on point. The senior appeared to have all his pitches working to throw four scoreless innings before giving the game over to a bullpen which encountered some uncommon struggles, at least initially.

“Kenny is always going to be that guys and Cruz (Adams) came in, and he has as good of stuff as anyone, but he lost command a bit,” Ingersoll said. “But that happens, and we know how good Cruz is and he’ll be back and will be a big part of what we do before it’s all said and done.”

Ingersoll has coached the Cavemen to several 6A championships in recent years and subsequently understands what it takes better than anyone while missing few, if any aspect on out on the diamond or even within his team’s own dugout. During one particular juncture of Wednesday’s game, he got after his dugout for not lending the type of support he was hoping for.

“Energy from the dugout is huge,” Ingersoll said. “Some of them seemed bored in there and like it was misery for them to be there, and we can’t have that. I don’t like that, so I got after them. Momentum is a big thing, so we need to be better in all areas and that includes from the guys who aren’t in the game. We need everything.”

And considering Ingersoll’s resume, who’s going to argue with him in that regard?