1 / 11

Pleasant Grove's Jacob Baxter (1) leaps over American Fork's Dax Greening during a play at second base in a Region 3 baseball game on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

2 / 11

American Fork's Gabe Hollenbach delivers a pitch against Pleasant Grove in a Region 3 baseball game on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

3 / 11

American Fork's Court Taylor, left, is greeted by teammate Bode Gaggero at the conclusion of a 1-0 Caveman victory at Pleasant Grove on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

4 / 11

Pleasant Grove's Hudson Banks delivers a pitch against American Fork in a Region 3 baseball game on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

5 / 11

American Fork's Court Taylor delivers a pitch against Pleasant Grove in a Region 3 baseball game on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

6 / 11

Pleasant Grove's Brock Robinson (3) reacts after reaching first base safely in a Region 3 baseball game against American Fork on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

7 / 11

Pleasant Grove's Mason Henry (24) stretches for a throw as American Fork's Crew Ingersoll runs to first base during a Region 3 baseball game on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

8 / 11

American Fork's Jett Walker (2) turns a double play during a Region 3 baseball game against Pleasant Grove on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

9 / 11

American Fork's C.J. Mascaro (5) watches the flight of the ball during an at-bat against Pleasant Grove in a Region 3 baseball game on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

10 / 11

Pleasant Grove's

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

11 / 11

Pleasant Grove coach Darrin Henry (middle) talks to a pair of base runners during a time out of a Region 3 baseball game against American Fork on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

❮ ❯

Sometimes, all you get is one.

American Fork managed just one run on Tuesday against Region 3 foe Pleasant Grove but made that single counter stand up in a 1-0 victory keyed by excellent pitching from starter Gabe Hollenbach and lefty reliever Court Taylor.

“Gabe and Court did an outstanding job today and located their pitches well,” AF coach Jarod Ingersoll said. “We played good defense behind them but really, those two are the story of why we were able to keep a zero up there all the way through the game.”

Hollenbach pitched five strong innings, allowing just three hits before giving way to Taylor in the sixth holding a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Pleasant Grove worked a walk, a single from pinch hitter Drew Smith and a throwing error on a pickoff play to get first and third with one out. Taylor struck out R.J. Wilson to get the second out and faced BYU commit Tua Wolfgramm.

On a 2-2 count, Taylor got Wolfgramm to bounce out to second base to end the game.

“I love it,” Taylor said. “I’ve been training my whole life for situations like this. I just put a lot of trust in my defense. I knew they’d get the job done. I was a little nervous, but I pulled through with lots of breathing. I just wanted to attack Tua, start him off with off speed and it all worked out.”

American Fork (9-5 overall, 3-1 Region 3) got the only run it would need in the top of the third inning. Crew Ingersoll led off with a sharp single to left and eventually came home on a two-out RBI single by Bode Gaggero.

Coach Ingersoll knows team is capable of putting up more runs — “I expect more of our offense and they expect more of themselves,” he said — but credited PG lefty starter Hudson Banks for his performance. Banks scattered four hits in seven innings of work.

“The thing about close games is we’ve found ways to win them,” Coach Ingersoll said. “We played a lot of baseball this year with our backs against the wall. So we’re experienced in that. We’re battle tested and that’s why we’ve played the toughest schedule we could. I think that that manifested itself some today. But we’ve also been blessed with good kids.”

American Fork — No. 7 in this week’s Class 6A RPI — has played in three straight state championship series, winning the title in 2021 and 2023.

“I think we have a good culture with our kids,” Coach Ingersoll said. “A lot of different kids are going to be called upon for a lot of different roles and they trust each other. My assistant coaches are really good. I think that there’s an expectation to be successful and and sometimes that creates a little too much pressure. But we just want the guys to go out and play baseball the AF way and play hard. It’s just a credit to the kids and the community and just people buying into what we got going on.”

Pleasant Grove, which swept a three-game series with Westlake to open Region 3, is 8-6 overall and 3-1 in region play.

Game 2 of the three-game series will be played Wednesday.

Newsletter