Am. Fork answers some questions with win

HIGHLAND — The American Fork Cavemen, just like most every other high school baseball team in the state, have a lot of question marks as the new season begins.

In their year-opening 9-5 road win over the Lone Peak Knights on Tuesday, they did well in those areas where they are expecting to excel — defense and hitting — and were adequate in the area where they might struggle — pitching. Still, it took a 4-run seventh inning to break a 5-5 tie to earn the preseason victory.

"It's a good win for this early in the year, and it gives us some things to build on, but we've still got a lot of work ahead of us," Cavemen coach Jared Ingersol said.

The Cavemen have one of the better middle infields around and one of the top catchers in Utah. And they didn't disappoint in their first outing by turning multiple, tough Lone Peak grounders into outs without committing an error. Catcher Shay Conder also threw out the only base runner that tried to steal on him.

With a host of quality hitters back from last year's squad, they also smacked the ball around fairly well at the plate in scoring nine runs on nine hits. Hap Holmstead, Tyson Davis, T. J. Spencer each had two hits, with Holmstead driving in three runs.

And even though American Fork's pitching was shaky at times, it was more than adequate when it counted. Hunter Boone started and threw well for two innings before leaving in the third after walking four straight batters - which forced in two runs. Holmstead took over with two outs and didn't allow a hit until the Knights touched him for three hits and two runs in the sixth. But in the seventh, with his team back ahead by four, he retired the side in order to earn the victory.

"We're a good defensive team, and we can make the plays. We just need our pitchers to throw strikes so our defense has a chance," Ingersol said.

Lone Peak, on the other hand, managed only five hits and three of four Knights pitchers struggled. Reliever Alex Hesterly pitched four innings of one-hit scoreless ball, but the hurlers before and after him struggled to hold the Cavemen down.

American Fork jumped ahead 1-0 in the first when Austin Haws reached first on an error, advanced all the way from first to third on a passed ball, and scored on a two-out single by Holmstead. The Knights tied the game 1-1 when Pat Bailey hit a wind-aided solo homer to right center field in the bottom half.

The Cavemen scored four times in the second, making the score 5-1, on an RBI double by Taylor Mangum, an RBI double by Haws and a two-run triple by Spencer. After trimming the lead to 5-3 in the third, Lone Peak tied the game 5-5 in the sixth when Devan Cahoon doubled off the center-field wall, and Billy Burgess followed with a towering homer over the same center-field fence.

But the Cavemen avoided extra innings with a big seventh. They loaded the bases on two singles and a walk off of reliever Trent Rasmussen, and scored a the go-ahead run when Conder walked to force a run home. Holmstead then delivered a two-run single to right-center field, and the final run scored on a wild pitch.