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Tanner Morgan of Timpanogos hits a three-run double in the first inning of a 5A baseball state tournament game against Orem at BYU's Miller Park on Monday, May 22, 2023.

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The Timpanogos dugout welcomes Tyler Hunter (5) to the dugout after he scored a run during a 5A baseball state tournament game at BYU's Miller Park on Monday, May 22, 2023.

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Tate MacGillivary (10) hustles back to first base as Orem's Cohen Strickland takes the throw during a 5A baseball state tournament game at BYU's Miller Park on Monday, May 22, 2023.

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Orem's Cohen Strickland slides headfirst to home plate as teammate Zach Engemann looks on during a 5A baseball state tournament game against Timpanogos at BYU's Miller Park on Monday, May 22, 2023.

Darnell Dickson/Daily Herald

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Timpanogos coach Kim Nelson (in blue) holds a mound conference with pitcher Billy Bird during a 5A baseball state tournament game against Orem on Monday, May 22, 2023.

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Timpanogos lefty Billy Bird delivers a pitch during a 5A baseball state tournament game against Orem at BYU's Miller Park on Monday, May 22, 2023.

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Orem's Cohen Strickland (9) runs to third base during a 5A baseball state tournament game against Timpanogos at BYU's Miller Park on Monday, May 22, 2023.

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Orem's Zach Engemann slides into second base while Timpanogos' Collin Morgan tracks down a throw during a 5A baseball state tournament game at BYU's Miller Park on Monday, May 22, 2023.

Darnell Dickson/Daily Herald

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Timpanogos won its 5A state tournament game against Orem on Monday by a 13-4 score, but nearly came away with a loss, anyway.

The Timberwolves jumped out to a 7-0 lead and dominated in the all-Region 8 matchup in the Bracket Round at BYU’s Miller Park, but controversy erupted after the game.

“This has to do with the pitch count in our game on Friday,” Timpanogos coach Kim Nelson said. “We had one of our guys (junior Chase Riggs) with 85 pitches (last Friday) and GameChanger (a stats tracking website) had him at 86. So with today’s pitches, that would be a violation (of the 110-limit high school pitch count).”

Orem coaches reported the discrepancy to the Utah High Schools Activities Association after the game. Nelson indicated that UHSAA Assistant Director Jeff Cluff would review Friday and Monday’s game video to determine if a violation had taken place. Cluff concluded that a pick-off play on Friday was inadvertently logged as a pitch, so Riggs did not go over the pitch-count cap.

A violation of the pitch count would have resulted in a Timpanogos forfeit of its win against Orem.

Crisis averted.

The T-Wolves put pressure on Orem from the start on Friday, scoring seven runs in the first two innings. In the bottom of the first, Billy Bird delivered the first of his three RBI singles and Tanner Morgan bashed a bases-loaded double to deep center that drove in three runs for a 4-0 lead.

“It was pleasing to get a single up the middle with our first hitter because we had such a hard time getting anything going on Friday,” said Nelson, referring to last week’s difficult three-game Super Regional with No. 18 seed Uintah. “I think that really broke the ice. Everybody has a little bit different approach in the batter’s box when they see something happen. We’ve scored runs all year, but we just needed to get back in the groove a little bit.”

Timpanogos added three more runs in the second on just one hit, taking advantage of two Tiger throwing errors to take a commanding 7-0 lead after two innings of play.

Orem got on the board in the top of the third, scoring three times as Bird hit two batters and walked another. Merrick Bostock had an RBI single and Owen Miller plated another run with a sacrifice fly as the Tigers cut the deficit to 7-3.

Timpanogos kept rolling on offense, scoring two runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to push the lead to 13-4 and close out the victory.

Bird, who pitched five innings and allowed just four hits, finished 3 for 3 with three RBI for the T-Wolves.

“Billy has been solid for us all year,” Nelson said. “I think he went on a three-game stretch without giving up an earned run.”

Brighton Tate was 2 for 3 with a double and Tanner Morgan finished with four RBI for Timpanogos.

Bostock was 3 for 4 with a triple and Easton Davies added two doubles for Orem (18-10), which came into the game having won 16 of its past 17 games.

The T-Wolves (24-5) have won 11 of their past 12 games and have taken 3 of 4 from the Tigers this season. Timpanogos will face the Jordan-Salem Hills winner in a championship bracket game on Tuesday. Orem will face the loser of that contest in an elimination game, also on Tuesday.

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