High school baseball: Marcus Littlewood powers Pine View past Lehi

KEARNS — Pine View shortstop Marcus Littlewood felt right at home on Monday night.

Littlewood was back at Gates Field, the place where his summer team, the Utah Marshalls, plays dozens of games each year. The playing surface was impeccable, which meant there was no chance Littlewood was going to make an error. Littlewood also made an impact at the plate in leading the Panthers to a 3-2 win over Lehi in the one-loss bracket of the 4A state tournament.

"It feels like home," Littlewood said. "I've probably played more games here than at Pine View. It feels real comfortable here."

With Pine View down 2-0 in the first, Littlewood doubled to left-center from the left side of the plate. He then scored on an RBI single by Chance Jones to cut Lehi's lead in half.

The Panthers were somewhat down after Lehi started fast. The best player in the state quickly lifted their spirits.

"That's what a player of his caliber is all about," said Pine View coach Randy Wilstead. "It's just to show everybody, 'hey, we're alright. We'll be OK.' And he's been doing that all year."

He did it some more in the second inning. The Panthers loaded the bases on two walks and a Lehi error before Littlewood's second at-bat. He then hit a rocket to right field to score two runs and give Pine View its winning margin of 3-2.

"Marcus has been that sparkplug for us all year — someone we can count on," Wilstead said.

Littlewood had four putouts at shortstop. The toughest play he made came in the second when a shot by Lehi's T.J. Russon took a funny hop just before it got to him. Littlewood made the play look easy, trapping the ball in his mitt above his waist and throwing out Hunter Houghton at second.

"Hit it to the shortstop all night long," Wilstead said. "That's the best part of his game. He's not a prep baseball player out there (in the field). He's miles and miles ahead of the other guys at his level."

Pine View advances to play another day in the tournament, and will face reigning 4A champion Mountain Crest in another elimination game on Tuesday.

Pitcher Brandon Cox made sure the Panthers lived another day. He threw a gem after recovering from a shaky first inning. He allowed the Pioneers to score two runs off of two hits in the first. He gave up just one hit the rest of the way, and recorded 10 total strikeouts.

"He's been good all year," Littlewood said of Cox. "He's been an absolute warrior for us. Hats off to him. He did a great job."

Cox said he always struggles in the first inning, and he did when the Pioneers had success against his fastball. He mixed up his pitches with off-speed stuff after the first, keeping Lehi off balance.

"I've said it all year long — if we score four runs with Brandon on the mound we've got a 90 percent chance of wining that game," Wilstead said. "He's a warrior and a bulldog. I wish had a whole bullpen full of them."

e-mail: aaragon@desnews.com