Mountain Crest stays alive by blanking Royals

MURRAY — For 14 innings in 4A state tournament action Mountain Crest lefty Rick Hansen has been nearly perfect.

In his latest victory, a 9-0 decision over Roy Monday at Ken Price Field in a losers' out game, Hansen was perfect through five innings before surrendering his only hit, Bryan Hutzley, to start the sixth.

In his first tournament appearance vs. Provo last week, the senior allowed just two hits in the 3-0 shutout.

In the back-to-back shutouts he allowed three hits, walked one, hit one, and struck out 20. And Monday, despite giving up a hit, he still faced the minimum 21 hitters in the game as his defense turned a double-play to end the sixth.

"Ricky is performing far and beyond to what we expected out of him, and we expect a lot out of him," Mountain Crest coach Steven Hansen said. "Today he was unbelievable. He was in a groove and got some good defense behind him. It was his day."

For the first five innings, Hansen and Roy's Marcus Moore hooked up in a pitching duel, but Mountain Crest, which was the Region 4 co-champion with Roy, held a 3-0 lead.

Moore had only given up six hits until the sixth, when the Mustangs plated six runs on a two-run single by Ryan Zimmerman, a sacrifice fly by Trustin Rowser and an RBI double by Casey Baugh. They also got help from three walks, a hit batter and two Roy errors.

"It's a lot easier pitching when you've got a nine-run lead," Hansen said. "You can go out there and relax, and I think it's easier to go out there and throw strikes."

In Region 4 play the two teams split with Roy, behind Moore, taking a 5-2 decision, and Mountain Crest later rebounded for a 7-0 win.

"The Moore kid is a good pitcher, without a doubt," Hansen said. "It took us a little to get to him, and once we did we started swinging the bats well."

Baugh finished with three hits and an RBI, as did Nick Eliason.

The Mustangs played Box Elder, who ousted Region 5 champion Murray, today at 1:30 p.m. at Ken Price Field.

In other losers-out games Monday:

BOX ELDER 9, MURRAY 8: Kevin Hashimoto had a key two-run triple in the Bees' six-hit, five-run seventh inning as Box Elder upset Murray. Robbie Brinkerhoff has had three hits and three RBIs for the Bees. Clayne Garrett went 4-for-4 with two homers and three RBIs for the Spartans.