High school 5A baseball: Timberwolves dancing with joy

OREM — It was a day of firsts for the Timpanogos Timberwolves.

Designated hitter Grant Jimenez hit his first home run of the season, a tone-setting three-run bomb in the first inning of the Timpanogos-Bingham 5A state championship game on Saturday afternoon. Right fielder Kellen McWhorter followed with his first home run of the season in the second inning. Tanner Wolfe made his first relief appearance of the postseason and held his ground against one of the state's most potent offenses.

All of the firsts played important roles in what was the most satisfying first for the Timberwolves: They defeated the Miners 8-4 to claim their first state baseball championship since moving up to 5A prior to the 2005-06 school year. It was the fourth overall state baseball title for Timpanogos, which has won 23 of its last 25 state tournament games.

"This win is incredible," Jimenez said. "We've worked so hard for so long. Finally. It's the best feeling to come through in the end."

The result of Saturday's title game hardly seemed in doubt after Jimenez's first inning at-bat. Down 0-2 in the count against Bingham starter Nate Rasmussen, he was looking to just battle and get on base. Rasmussen hung a curve ball to Jimenez, and he blasted it over the left-field fence to put the Timberwolves up 3-0.

"It felt really good, but the win is a lot sweeter," Jimenez said.

It was also sweet for the Timberwolves to see their clean-up hitter come through in a key spot. Jimenez has battled several nagging injuries in the last year and had to endure a shoulder surgery. The various ailments may have slowed him at times, but not when it counted the most.

"Grant, coming into the year, we thought was definitely going to be one of our better players," said Timpanogos coach Kim Nelson. "I'm proud of the fact he made a big contribution here in this game."

Jimenez's home run put all of the game's pressure on Bingham. The Miners responded and rallied at various times in the game. They got within one run of Timpanogos in the fourth and chased Timberwolves starter Rhett Nelson in the fifth. Bingham, however, let too many chances slip away and stranded 11 runners on base.

The Timberwolves had no such problems. They took advantage of their opportunities and got contributions from everyone in their lineup.