High school 3A baseball: Juan Diego drubs Cedar in semis

OREM — Prior to his team's 3A winners' bracket semifinal matchup with Cedar on Thursday afternoon, Juan Diego coach Steve Cramblitt likened the game to a heavyweight fight.

The game went the distance, but there was no drama and little reason to check the scorecards when it was over. The Soaring Eagle dominated from nearly the opening pitch, and cruised to an 8-2 win over Cedar in a game pitting the top two ranked teams in 3A against each other.

The Soaring Eagle knew before their game started that they would be facing rival Judge in the winners' bracket final today, but they didn't look past the Redmen.

"This was a big one," said Juan Diego pitcher Caleb Olson, who started and threw six innings, allowed five hits and recorded eight strikeouts. "We just kept hitting and hitting. That's kind of been the signature of this team. Everyone hits."

Olson said his team was feeling some pressure early in the game, and it fell behind 1-0 on a wild pitch. But Juan Diego quickly responded, as Matthew Semancik and Drew Tate each drove in runs to put the Soaring Eagle up 2-1.

Olson said that was the turning point.

"After we went up 2-1, we all settled down a little bit," he said.

Tate added an RBI single in the third, and the Soaring Eagle pulled away with four runs in the fourth. Brennan Stelling, the team's No. 9 hitter, provided a clutch two-run single and Semancik added his own two-run single to put the game out of reach.

The Soaring Eagle executed almost flawlessly in all phases of the game. They committed no errors, took advantage of base-running mistakes by the Redmen, and got key hits when runners were in scoring position.

"We executed really well," Cramblitt said. "We moved base runners into scoring position and then guys delivered. Once Caleb got a little bit of a lead, off he went."

Juan Diego improved to 22-2 on the season and will be looking for its second straight win over Judge. The Soaring Eagle will likely throw A.J. Begay, who defeated the Bulldogs 11-0 a couple of weeks ago, at Judge in the highly anticipated rematch.

"The good thing about these guys is they've stayed focused," Cramblitt said. "Hopefully, we can keep doing that. We got our hands full yet."

E-mail: aaragon@desnews.com