After No. 15 seed Payson won Game 2, 8-6, to knot the series at one game each, Mountain View head coach Beau McCoy turned to freshman Noa Ioane as the starter in the deciding game to advance to the next round of the 4A baseball playoffs.

Ioane, making his first-ever varsity start, delivered a five-inning gem and Mountain View’s bats came through big as the Bruins beat Payson 11-1 in the series finale.

“It feels awesome man,” said Ioane of the victory. And the coaches, along with his teammates, didn’t hesitate to award him the game ball.

“I don’t throw the hardest, so locate,” Ioane said when asked about his strategy. “I just tried to throw it where they couldn’t reach it, or where they would over-swing and try to hit it too hard.”

And for the most part, it worked very well.

Ioane struck out two but got the 15 outs the Bruins needed to win the game, inducing one double play ball to end the second inning along with a bevy of soft flyouts by the Lions. Payson’s biggest threat came in the fourth inning but Ioane worked out of it.

The 3-game series was a wild one. Mountain View, the No. 18 seed going into the tournament, won the first game 17-16 in 11 innings. For McCoy, it was the wildest game he’s ever been a part of as a coach.

“I’ve never been a part of a baseball game like that in my entire coaching career,” McCoy said. “We had our chances to win, Payson had their chances. Our boys just stayed resilient and made the plays when it mattered, we were a bit luckier than they were yesterday.”

The huge win still meant that Mountain View had to travel back to Payson Saturday and win at least one of the games. It took two tries, but the Bruins advanced and will now take on Snow Canyon, the No. 2 seed, in a best-of-three match-up in St. George.

In the deciding third game of the series where Mountain View actually got to play as the designated home team, Mountain View’s offense broke out in the second and third innings to stake the Bruins out to a 10-0 lead.

In the second frame, Braiden Roberts scratched out an infield single followed by a walk by Josh Hair. George Jewell was assigned to sacrifice but his bunt was so well placed he beat it out to load the bases.

Mason Cook’s bloop single to right field scored two runs and when Payson made a throwing error, a third run scored to make it 3-0.

But the Bruins weren’t done. Another Payson error led to Cook scoring and then Elian Tortoledo’s single drove in the fifth run of the inning.

Meanwhile, Ioane did his thing by not letting Payson back into the game with his third scoreless inning on the mound.

Mountain View then took total control by plating five more runs in the bottom of the third.

Hair and Jewell had back to back doubles followed by Cook reaching on a walk. Then Hernando Chaparro, Tortoledo and Samuel Garcia followed with three straight doubles and the rout was on.

Payson answered with a run in the top of the fourth but Mountain View scored one more in the fifth inning and the game was ended by the 10-run rule.

The Mountain View program has struggled in recent years but over time McCoy has got the Bruins to be more competitive. And the momentum seemed to be swinging for Mountain View in the later stages of the regular season, where the Bruins won one game against Provo and then took two-of-three against Uintah, denying the Utes second place in the league.

“One thing we knew coming into the season was we were going to be able to swing the bats,” said McCoy. “Defense was our concern and we don’t have anyone that throws 90 miles per hour either, so we have to throw strikes and play defense. We knew if our bats got hot, it would be hard for teams to keep up with us and they did just at the right time.”

Though Snow Canyon is the No. 2 seed, McCoy told his team in the post-game meeting that he feels Snow Canyon is the best team in the state regardless of classification. He told his team: “It’s a David vs. Goliath type of match-up.”

“They’re a Goliath,” McCoy said. “They’re a juggernaut. In my opinion Snow Canyon is the best team in the State of Utah. They beat some top teams in the country and have seven or eight kids committed to play college baseball.”

But McCoy is eager for the challenge and feels the nature of baseball itself gives the Bruins a fighting chance.

“Baseball is a funny game,” McCoy said. “Throw strikes, play defense and create some chaos anything can happen. We’re going to be optimistic, give it our best shot and see what we can do.”

Payson 8, Mountain View 6: Jaxton Haveron was the Lion hero as he drove in two runs while Boston Roseman came in relief and got the win in the second game of the series.

Mountain View tied up the game 6-6 but Payson plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth and held the Bruins scoreless in the seventh frame to send the series to a third game.

In other 4A games, No. 9 seed Provo bounced No. 24 seed Hillcrest 13-0. The Bulldogs held the Huskies scoreless in their two-game sweep. Now Provo will travel north to Cache Valley to take on No. 8 seed Ridgeline in a best-of-three series Friday and Saturday.

No. 3 seed Timpanogos got a first-round bye and the Timberwolves will host No. 14 Stansbury, which swept Cedar City in a best-of-three series, also on Friday and Saturday.

Brian E. Preece, Herald Correspondent

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