SPRINGVILLE — The battle for the Region 7 baseball title is really down to three teams - Springville, Provo and Payson.

The three began play this week tied atop the standings with two league losses each. Provo, however, now has a little edge over the other two by holding off Springville 11-7 on Tuesday to give the Bulldogs a season sweep over the Red Devils.

"When there's a three-way tie you have to beat those other two teams when you get the chance if you want to stick around in this race," Provo coach Lance Moore said.

On Tuesday, the Bulldogs - with 14 hits in the game - jumped out to an 8-0 lead and held on despite some shaky defense that allowed six unearned runs in Springville's fifth.

"Every game here is always an adventure and winning here is never easy. But I don't think we've ever swept Springville before," Moore said.

Sophomore right-hander Seth Rhineer gave up seven hits to earn his second complete-game victory over the Red Devils. He was far from overpowering, but walked only two and struck out four

"He's mature well beyond his years," Moore said. "He understands the game and he sure knows how to pitch."

Provo went up 2-0 in the second on an RBI double by Hayden Denton and a sacrifice fly by Kyler Hamilton. An RBI single by Morgan Ventura on a check swing added a run for Provo in the third. The Bulldogs led 6-0 after four thanks to a Matt Griner two-out two-run single in the fourth. McClain Griffin's two-out two-run double to the left-field gap in the fifth pushed the margin to 8-0.

"Our guys have bought into the philosophy of quality situational hitting and making productive outs," Moore said.

But right when it looked like the Bulldogs were en route to a rout, they gave Springville some breaks and the Red Devils capitalized on the opportunities.

A dropped fly down the right-field line put Marcus Case on third for Springville to lead off the bottom of the fifth. He scored on Colton Loftus' solid double. Loftus scored on a sacrifice fly by Mark DeWyze. With two Springville runners on and two outs, the Bulldogs should have escaped further damage but a throwing error kept the inning alive for the Red Devils and allowed another run to score. That error was followed up by a dropped fly ball to deep left field off the bat of Brady Hansen, that scored two more for Springville. The Red Devils cut Provo's lead to 8-6 on an RBI single to right by Mitch Kass.

Both teams added a run in the sixth to keep the margin at two. The Bulldogs, however, added two insurance runs in the seventh on an RBI single by Colby Frampton and a bases-loaded hit batter.

But Provo could have done a lot more damage if not for a spectacular catch in right field by Kass. With two out and the bases loaded, Rhineer blistered a liner that was headed into the right-field gap before Kass sprinted over and caught the ball on an all-out stretched-out dive.

"That was as good of a catch as you're ever going to see," Moore said, praising Springville's no-quit attitude.

Still, Rhineer retired the Red Devils quietly in the seventh to preserve the victory. Provo (7-2) has a road game on Friday against Orem before another showdown game on Monday at Payson. Springville (6-3) has two more games this week against Orem and Timpview.

E-mail: jimr@desnews.com