American Legion: Big 4th inning helps Sentinels douse Vernal

Sentinels' Trey Allred makes a tag at second base for an out, St. George Sentinels vs. Vernal, American Legion Baseball, St. George, UT, June 17, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Ofttimes, little things lead to big things.

That was the case as a steal of home by St. George Sentinel baserunner Cooper Madison helped open the way for a seven-run fourth inning as the hometown team defeated Vernal 10-3 in American Legion baseball action Saturday at Pine View’s Panther Field.

“We actually were trying to execute a suicide squeeze (bunt) on the play, but Cooper got such a good jump on the pitcher that he was right on top of the batter when the pitch was delivered,” St. George coach Shane Johanson said. “So the hitter just stepped back and he stole home. It surprised and rattled their pitcher and the wheels kind of came off after that.”

The Sentinels had struck for three runs in the third and had former Hurricane star Tobie Swenson throwing a shutout at the time, so the rally effectively demoralized Vernal and sent the game into blowout status.

St. George Sentinels vs. Vernal, American Legion Baseball, St. George, UT, June 17, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Madison and Jaeger Crosby finished the game on the mound as St. George handed Vernal its second South Region loss of the summer. Vernal is 5-2 and St. George improves to 3-4 in league play.

“It was a big deal for us to come home and get this win,” Johanson said. “We dropped two one-run games to Pleasant Grove and Vernal beat us up there, so this one was important.”

Trey Allred started the scoring with an RBI single in the third and Swenson had a triple in the fourth that cleared the bases as part of that seven-run rally.

Peyton Higgins had two hits and two RBIs as the Sentinels have won five games in-a-row overall.

Vernal scored a run in the fifth to escape the shutout and added two more in the sixth. The Vernal Legion team lost two of three this weekend in southern Utah.

The Sentinels host the St. George Summer Classic next week, opening up with Jackson, Wyo., Wednesday night (8:30 p.m.) in a game played at Dixie State University’s Hurst Field. Snow Canyon (non-Legion) plays just before that game against the Southern Utah Baseball Academy. The Dixie Pilots play Thursday at Hurst Field (also 8:30 p.m.) against Golden, Colo.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

 

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.