High school baseball: Favorites roll in quarters, semis moved to next week

SPANISH FORK — The opening round of the 1A baseball state tournament at Spanish Fork Complex went about as expected on Tuesday afternoon, as all four pre-tourney favorites won comfortably.

Wayne rocked Green River 21-0, Tabiona beat St. Joseph 12-2, West Ridge scored a 10-0 victory over Bryce Valley and Panguitch topped Tintic 8-2.

The teams will reconvene next Monday with the semifinals at Utah Valley University, where Wayne (16-4) faces Tabiona (15-3) at noon and West Ridge (13-4) meets Panguitch (15-4) at 2 p.m. The championship game will be Tuesday at UVU at 11 p.m. The semifinals were originally scheduled for this Friday at UVU, but because of weather the games were pushed back to next week.

Defending 1A state champion Wayne has won 11 straight since losing to Panguitch 5-4 at the Panguitch tournament back on Aug. 20.

"Obviously with Wayne's big win today they still showed they're the favorite team, but that's in the other bracket. But I have to concern myself with West Ridge," said Panguitch coach Clint Barney.

Even though Panguitch won 8-2 on Tuesday, it was forced to use ace Dalan Bennett for six innings. That was less than ideal, but Barney is happy to be moving on.

Panguitch and West Ridge met twice in the preseason, with West Ridge winning both. Barney believes his team has improved quite a bit since those two games and is looking forward to the rematch.

"I feel West Ridge has had solid teams for the last few years and I know they're looking to break through and get to the championship game," said Barney.

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