High school baseball: Canyon View takes Game 1 of 3A championship series in extra innings over Juab

It took extra innings, but No. 1 Canyon View was able to get the job done in Game 1 of the 3A baseball championship series Friday, defeating No. 2 Juab 9-6 to take the early lead in their best of three series.

Canyon View leadoff hitter Trenton Ludlow set the tone, going 3 for 6 with two doubles, two RBIs and three runs scored in the victory.

“We knew this was going to be a great series. I think we’re pretty good and I know their game is good. It was just a high intensity, very fun baseball game,” said Canyon View head coach Jason Jacobsen.

“We were just fortunate enough to get a hit there late in the game and then extend the lead which gave us a little breathing room.”

Juab had a tough go of it defensively, committing four errors in the first three innings of the game and five total, giving Canyon View the opportunity to capitalize.

Capitalize it did, scoring at least one run in each of the first four innings.

“When you get to this point you just need to try to be clean, and I think we were a little bit cleaner,” Jacobsen said. “We had a few hiccups too, but we were just a little bit cleaner than they were.

“We really talked about this approach this morning and I really feel like our kids had some good swings and made some good contact which gave us a chance in each inning, especially early on, that allowed us to capitalize on their errors.”

Juab was forced to play catch up because of the early defensive mistakes, but trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Wasps evened things up thanks to some clutch hitting by Madix Stowell, who ripped a 2-out 2-run double to knot the game up at 5.

Juab carried the momentum over into the next inning and took the lead on a bases loaded walk by Connor Cowan.

With Canyon View up to their final at-bats, Price Atwood came through in the clutch by hitting a deep fly ball to center just out of the reach of the centerfielder, resulting in a triple.

Atwood then proceeded to score on a Juab wild pitch to tie the game up at 6.

“It’s the same thing we’ve done all year. Our kids don’t panic. I am just so proud of them,” Jacobsen said. “It was just, ‘Hey, they got a run, now it’s our turn to try to get it back and just put some good at-bats.’

“There’s never any panic in our dugout no matter what inning we’re in, and that’s what we’ve done all year.”

Juab had every opportunity grab the victory in the extra innings and had the winning run in scoring position on multiple occasions but never was able to get the job done.

Canyon View, meanwhile, took advantage of its opportunities, remaining aggressive and swinging early and often.

In the top of the 10th inning with the score tied at 6 and Atwood once again finding himself on third base, another wild pitch allowed him cross home plate, giving the top-seeded Falcons the lead.

Things only got worse in the inning for Juab as Canyon View tacked on two more insurance runs to provide some much-needed breathing room.

With Canyon View having the opportunity now to grab its first baseball state title in school history, Jacobsen says the message is going to be the same as it has been all season long.

“We’re going to see another good arm on the mound tomorrow and it’s just going to be the same thing,” he said. “I’m just going to tell our kids to just do what we’ve done all year, come and battle, put some good at-bats together, compete like crazy and we’ll see what happens.”