Ignited: Late offensive push gives Lehi 6A baseball championship
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- Lehi players celebrate after winning the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi players and coaches celebrate after winning the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi players celebrate after winning the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi players celebrate after winning the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi players celebrate with their fans after winning the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi players celebrate after winning the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi players celebrate after winning the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi players celebrate after winning the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi players watch the final outs from the dugout during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- A Lehi baserunner scores a run during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- A Lehi baserunner gets caught trying to take third during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi players talk things over before the final game of the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- A Lehi baserunner slides into third base during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- A Lehi batter hits the ball during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi senior Caleb Crutchfield throws a pitch during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- A Lehi batter swings at a pitch during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- A rainbow arcs over the field during the 6A championship series between Lehi and Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi sophomore Dawson Brown makes a sliding catch in right field during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi sophomore Dawson Brown makes a sliding catch in right field during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- A Lehi baserunner dives back to first during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi junior Ozzie Williams throws to first during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi junior Cooper Williams throws to first during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi players applaud a strikeout during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- A Lehi batter hits the ball during the 6A championship series against Corner Canyon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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- Lehi junior Cooper Williams attempts to tag out a Corner Canyon baserunner during the 6A championship series at UCCU Ballpark in Orem on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
Tied 5-5 with Corner Canyon in the biggest game of the season, Lehi needed an offensive explosion.
Who better to provide it than the guy whose nickname is “Nuke?”
Brandon “Nuke” Manookin drove in the go-ahead runs with a clutch single in the bottom of the sixth inning, propelling the Pioneers to a 7-5 victory on Saturday in Game 3 of the 6A state championship series at UCCU Ballpark.
Boom: State title No. 4 for the Lehi baseball program, its second in three seasons.
“It’s the greatest feeling in the world, just getting that trophy after a year of hard work,” Manookin said.
The Chargers, who finished fourth in Region 2 and came into the tournament as the No. 10 seed, won 5-3 earlier in the day to force the third game. The two teams put on a wonderful display of grit and determination in the nightcap, a contest where the lead changed hands four times and was tied three times.
“Corner Canyon, what a great job they did,” Lehi coach Eric Madsen said. “Man, those kids competed. One of the things I said the other day was that they remind me of us. We just have kids that go out, play hard and get after it. That’s really what our guys did was they just played hard the whole day.”
Corner Canyon led 5-4 heading into the top of the sixth. Singles from Tanner Heaps and Ozzie Williams and a walk by Mays Madsen loaded the bases for Lehi with one out. With two outs and the bases still loaded, Cole Ybarra was hit by a pitch to force in the tying run.
That set the stage for Manookin.
“I was just trying to get the ball into the gap and move the runners around, especially with two outs,” Manookin said. “I was trying to keep it on a line and score some runs to give us that lead.”
Facing a full count, Manookin slashed a low liner just past the diving Chargers shortstop, scoring Williams and Madsen for a 7-5 Lehi lead.
“Nuke is the guy that everyone loves in the dugout,” Mays Madsen said. “He’s one of the clowns on the team that will mess around but when stuff starts to get serious, he digs in. He locks in. Even though he was down in the count and kind of struggled in the game, he works his butt off and came through big-time when we needed him the most.”
In the top of the seventh, Corner Canyon opened with singles from Kash Koncar and Nathan Horstmann to get the go-ahead run to the plate. Senior lefty Caleb Crutchfield, who was brilliant in relief for the Pioneers, struck out three consecutive Chargers to finish off the game.
“I just needed to do what I’d been doing,” Crutchfield said. “I know that my teammates had given me a lead and that was nice to work with. I was just thinking, ‘Next pitch. The next pitch is all you need.’ Just finish it off. Just close it out.”
Crutchfield earned the victory with 3.1 innings of work, holding Corner Canyon scoreless and striking out seven.
Lehi coach Eric Madsen, who took over the Lehi program when Jason Ingersoll resigned last spring, spent 13 seasons as the head coach at Utah Valley and returned to that same campus this week to win the state title.
“You know what? I’ve enjoyed it,” Coach Madsen said. “Being with my boys (Mays and Murphy) is really what it’s been about. They’re all my boys now. These guys are just competitive. We preach that and it’s what Jason Ingersoll brought to this program. They just have that mindset that we’re not going to quit. They’ll quit when somebody tells them it’s over. And that’s it. So they’re good boys.”
All the Madsens do is win state championships: Mick Madsen won a title at American Fork, as did Maddox Madsen, who transferred to Lehi his senior season and won another one in 2022. Mays Madsen was a freshman on that team and adds another trophy to the collection.
“It just runs in the family,” Mays Madsen said. “We got it done.”
Lehi (23-10) had won three previous state championships: 1978 (2A), 1981 (2A) and 2022 (5A).
“We just never gave up,” Manookin said. “In games this past week, we’ve gotten down in some innings. But we always came back and just never stopped fighting. Making it here is our goal. Not just making it but taking this thing. Taking that trophy.”
No. 10 Corner Canyon 5, No. 5 Lehi 3
The Pioneers put themselves in a hole with early errors and managed just four hits in a Game 2 loss to the Chargers to set up the rubber match.
Corner Canyon scored four runs in the top of the second, getting a two-run single from Horstmann and a solo home run from Rylan Dunn to grab a 5-0 lead.
There was a 25-minute rain delay in the bottom of the fifth inning.
“After the loss, we just talked about how we had to trust each other,” Mays Madsen said. “We knew Corner Canyon was going to come out in Game 3 smoking hot but we needed to stay composed and stay passionate.”
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