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Springville's Easton Barrett (11) delivers a pitch in a Region 7 baseball game against Orem on Friday, April 19, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Springville right fielder Reid Deede prepares to throw the ball after making a catch during a Region 7 baseball game against Orem on Friday, April 19, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Orem's Merrick Bostock (23) slides in safely at home plate during a Region 7 baseball game at Springville on Friday, April 19, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Springville players watch from the dugout during a Region 7 baseball game against Orem on Friday, April 19, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Orem's Landon Nix runs toward third base in a Region 7 baseball game at Springville on Friday, April 19, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Orem's Easton Davies delivers a pitch against Springville in a Region 7 baseball game on Friday, April 19, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Springville assistant coach Mark Pawelek (center) and catcher Mason DeLlamas walk out to the mound to talk to pitcher Braxton Hughes during a Region 7 baseball game against Orem on Friday, April 19, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Orem's 6-foot-7 Kai Wesley, right, leads off third base as Tigers coach Carl Hermanson looks on in a Region 7 baseball game at Springville on Friday, April 19, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Springville's Kaden Tingey, left, slides in safely at third base as Orem's Zach Engemann gathers in the throw during a Region 7 baseball game on Friday, April 19, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Orem's Owen Miller (left) waits for a throw at first base as Springville's Reid Deede runs up the baseline during a Region 7 baseball game on Friday, April 19, 2024.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

❮ ❯

A year ago, Springville’s Easton Barrett was having Tommy John surgery on his throwing shoulder.

On Friday, he pitched so well he nearly made his head coach cry.

Barrett struck out nine of the 14 batters he faced in just 3 2/3 innings of work (he was on a pitch count), but it was more than just his outstanding performance in the Red Devils 5-4 Region 7 victory against Orem that had Ryan Briggs a little misty.

“Everyone knows he’s going to play at Arizona State,” Briggs said. “But his goal in life is he wants to pitch high school baseball. He hasn’t stepped away. He’s a Red Devil first, not a Sun Devil. That just says a lot about the kid because he wants to pitch for his home town school, for these guys. For me and this coaching staff, that’s just phenomenal. He could easily say, ‘I’ll wait for the draft or wait to go to Arizona State.’ But this kid has asked for the ball. Ever since he had the injury he told me, ‘I’ll be back, Coach.’ That just means the world to me.”

Barrett had everything working early on against the Tigers, striking out the first five batters he faced. Only three batters reached base against him (two walks and an error) before he was lifted with two outs in the third leading 1-0.

“I just told myself to calm down,” Barrett said. “I wrote ‘Be You’ on my cleats and that’s just what I tried to do. In my last couple of outings, I’ve been trying to overdo it, but today I just stayed simple and did my job. You can’t beat this, playing ball with your best friends. I’ve been playing with these guys since I was eight years old. You’re not going to get this time again so you really have to just go after it and have fun.”

A key contributor to Barrett’s comeback is former Springville legend Mark Pawelek, a left-handed pitcher who was selected in the first round of the major league baseball draft in 2005. Pawelek is an assistant coach with the Red Devils.

“He’s helped me a lot,” Barrett said. “We’ve talk a lot about situations. He’s always been there for me. Having him as my idol to look up to, it’s been really nice.”

Barrett ripped a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning for that early 1-0 lead, but after he left the game Orem rallied to take the lead. Reliever Braxton Hughes walked three in the third inning and gave up RBI singles to Easton Petitta and Jax Allen. The Tigers led 2-1 and made it 3-1 when Merrick Bostock came home on a wild pitch in the fifth.

Springville responded with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. The Red Devils took advantage of three walks and two hit batsman to get runners on base and sent 10 batters to the plate, grabbing a 5-3 lead.

Hughes settled down and got a 1-2-3 sixth. Bostock led off the top of the seventh for Orem with a solo home run to close to 5-4 but Hughes retired the next three batters, getting a nice defensive play at third from Junior Lauaki to end the game.

Springville (11-4 overall, 4-1 Region 7) has a busy week ahead with four games in five days

. To begin Friday’s action, five of the top 10 RPI leaders come from Region 7: Maple Mountain No. 2, Springville No. 4, Orem, No. 5, Salem Hills No. 6 and Spanish Fork No. 8.

“The last thing you can do in this league is go on a three or four-game losing streak,” Briggs said. “We had a lot of games in the preseason where we had to fight back and stop the bleeding. That’s huge in this region. You’re not going to win every game 10-0. You’d better win close ball games. You better have good blood pressure for your defense and your pitching staff to win in this region. And you’ve got to have a little bit of luck in baseball. You have to be good in every phase if you want to win games.”

Orem is now 13-4 overall and 4-2 in Region 7 after dropping two close games to Springville.

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