5A high school baseball tournament: T-Wolves' Croft crafty enough

OREM — Obviously, having a wounded Gentry Croft on the mound is much better than having no Gentry Croft on the mound.

The Timpanogos senior right-hander, who has been battling a rib-muscle injury the past three weeks, was nowhere near his midseason form Friday in the winners' bracket game of the 5A baseball tournament at Utah Valley State College.

But even with a heat pad under his jersey and the need to stretch repeatedly, Croft was still sharp enough to throw a complete-game five-hitter in the Timberwolves' 6-5 win over the Riverton Silverwolves.

"Where (Croft's) been the last three weeks to come in here and fight, scratch, claw and do all he can do to help, that's just great for him," Timpanogos coach Kim Nelson said.

Uncharacteristically, Croft did issue five walks and hit two batters. But he made up for his occasional wildness by striking out eight. Most importantly, he kept the Silverwolves off the scoreboard for the final four innings.

"From the fourth inning on, I started to hurt a little bit, but with the pressure of the game and everything, I had to hang in there because my team was counting on me," Croft said.

The T-Wolves, as they've been doing all tournament, came out of the gate fast with two runs in the bottom of the first, with Bret Lopez and Mitch Foster each singling in a run. A solo home run to deep left-center field in the second by Christian Stewart put Timpanogos up 3-0.

However, the Silverwolves made Timpanogos pay for its mistakes in the third. After the first two runners reached on a walk and hit batter, Croft's throw to third on a sacrifice bunt sailed into left field, allowing Riverton's first run to score. Two batters later, Nic Johnston stroked a single up the middle that scored two more runs, tying the game 3-3.

It appeared Timpanogos was going to escape further damage until Riverton catcher Davis Johnson singled up the middle to score one more. A fifth Riverton run scored when Johnson's single wasn't fielded cleanly in center field.

Riverton's five-run inning had Timpanogos trailing for the first time in the tournament. But the T-Wolves showed they can play catch-up ball as well.