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American Fork second baseman Cooper Jones (left) makes a throw to first from his knees after forcing out Riverton's Drake Piersall in a 6A baseball state tournament game at UVU's UCCU Ballpark on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

Darnell Dickson/Daily Herald

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American Fork's Dax Watts slides in safely at home plate in a 6A baseball state tournament game against Riverton on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

Darnell Dickson/Daily Herald

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American Fork put itself in some good situations offensively against Riverton at UVU’s UCCU Ballpark on Wednesday.

The problem was taking advantage of those situations.

The Cavemen outhit the Silverwolves 11-9 but ended up losing a 6-2 decision in bracket play of the 6A baseball tournament, which will force an elimination game between the same two teams Thursday at 4 p.m., with the winner moving on to the best-of-three championship series beginning Friday.

“It was situational hitting early, where there were some things we could have done a little bit differently,” AF coach Jarod Ingersoll said. “We chased a lot of his pitches (Riverton lefty Remington Robbins) instead of pitches we wanted to drive. We had some traffic on the bases and just couldn’t get that extra hit.”

Robbins scattered those 11 hits and surrendered just two earned runs with one walk and three strikeouts in six innings.

No. 6 seed Riverton, the champions from Region 3, took a 3-0 lead in the third inning, with a sacrifice bunt from Alex Vernon and and RBI double from Dylan Zullo.

Robbins helped himself with a two-run single in the fifth for a 5-0 advantage for the Silverwolves.

American Fork (17-12) finally broke into the scoring column in the sixth, stringing together four straight singles. Jett Walker’s base hit drove in Dax Watts to make the score 5-1 and the Cavemen loaded the bases. But Gavin Schoonover grounded out to end the threat.

Riverton added another run in the bottom of the sixth for a 6-1 lead.

American Fork loaded the bases with no one out in the top of the seventh and scored a run on a wild pitch. Josh Rojas drove a ball deep to left field but it was caught at the warning track, and Riverton (22-9) got the final two outs to earn the victory.

“We told the kids to flush it (the loss),” Ingersoll said. “We told them they were going to have to compete harder and come in with a clear mind. They’re good kids. They’re hard workers and they’re tough. We just have to come with a little more grit and a little more focus. We have to have some kids step up.”

Wednesday’s results

No. 5 Mountain Ridge 10, No. 1 Skyridge 7

These two teams keep finding ways to break each other hearts.

Skyridge made a come-from-behind, seventh-inning comeback on Tuesday for a victory against Mountain Ridge, but it was the Sentinels turn on Wednesday.

Mountain Ridge pulled off a four-run, two-out rally in the top of the seventh inning to take the lead and held on for a 10-7 win to force a third game between the two teams on Thursday at 7 p.m. The winner will advance to the best-of-three championship series beginning Friday.

Tuesday’s late game

No. 1 Skyridge 6, No. 5 Mountain Ridge 5

The Falcons made a dramatic comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning to advance in bracket play at UVU’s UCCU Ballpark.

Mountain Ridge scored three runs in the top of the seventh to break a 2-2 tie and take a 5-2 lead, but Skyridge rallied and scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 5-5 . With on out, Dalton Young ripped a single up the middle to score Chase Youngberg from third base for the game winner.

Due to two long rain delays, the game didn’t start until 9:35 p.m. and ended after midnight.

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