Defending baseball champions American Fork (6A) and Spanish Fork (5A) find themselves in very different situations heading into the 2022 state tournament.

Last season, American Fork was the No. 1 seed and rolled to a championship, finishing with a 30-1 record.

This year, the Cavemen are the No. 6 seed.

Last season, Spanish Fork entered the Class 5A tournament as the No. 7 seed but found their groove and won the title.

This year, the Dons are the No. 1 seed.

The road to a championship starts on Friday, with the finals to be held at Utah Valley’s UCCU Ballpark on May 27 and 28.

Fremont (24-1), which has won 23 games in a row, is the No. 1 seed in 6A. The Silverwolves only loss was on March 12 to Skyridge 5-3. Junior outfielder Calvin Morrow leads the state in RBI with 50.

Bingham (20-5), which won Region 3 with a 13-2 mark, is the No. 2 seed. Riverton (18-6) is No. 3 after finishing second behind the Miners in Region 3.

Lone Peak is the top local seed in 6A at No. 4 (18-6), followed by American Fork (18-6), Taylorsville (21-4) and Pleasant Grove (16-8) to round out the top eight teams receiving byes into the Super Regionals May 19 and 20.

American Fork has one of the state’s top players in TCU signee Fisher Ingersoll, who leads the state with nine home runs.

“I feel like we’re prepared,” AF coach Jarod Ingersoll said. “I like the format because the best team can win the state tournament. We’ve played one of the toughest schedules in the state, if not the toughest. So I feel like we’re battle tested and should be rewarded for that.”

Lone Peak got hot down the stretch and won 2 of 3 games in its final four Region 4 series against Pleasant Grove, Skyridge, Westlake and Corner Canyon. The Vikings won the first game against American Fork in the final series of the regular season but the Cavemen won the next two, including a dramatic 7-6 victory in nine innings on Wednesday.

The rigors of playing in a competitive and balanced Region 4 could set up any one of the local teams for a state tournament run.

The 6A tournament begins with Saturday’s Regionals, a best-of-3 competition that extends to Monday.

The 5A tournament was wildly entertaining last season with No. 7 Spanish Fork and No. 6 Maple Mountain surviving into the finals. The Dons won the best-of-3 championship to earn their eighth baseball state title.

Spanish Fork (21-4) won Region 9 by three games and has plenty of pitching and defense to make another run, featuring BYU commits Easton Romero and Zac Dart. Going in as the No. 1 seed puts a bullseye squarely on the backs of the Dons.

“I mean, it’s just a seed,” Romero said. “Everyone plays their best baseball in the state tournament. You saw it last year with us. We came into the tournament as the seven seed so it doesn’t really matter where you’re seeded.”

Lehi (21-4), the No. 2 seed, has to be considered a real threat to win its first state baseball title since 1981. Jordan (19-6) has one of 5A’s best offenses and is the No. 3 seed. Timpanogos (17-8) just edged out Orem (17-8) for the No. 8 spot and a bye to the Super Regionals.

The first round of the 5A tournament begins Friday with elimination games. The Regionals begin Saturday, with the remaining teams re-seeded for a best-of-3 format.

For complete details on the RPI rankings and the 5A and 6A brackets, go to UHSAA.org.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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