6A playoffs: Burnett grand slam pushes Weber baseball to run-rule win over Roy
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- Weber High’s Ashton Burnett, right, slides into home plate ahead of a throw to Roy catcher Ethan Herrick during a 6A baseball state tournament game Saturday, May 14, 2022 at Weber High School.
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- Weber High’s Ethan Holgate, right, avoids the tag of Roy’s Teyo Gil, left, during a 6A baseball state tournament baseball Saturday, May 14, 2022, at Weber High School.
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- Weber High’s Bode Larson throws a pitch against Roy in a 6A state tournament game Saturday, May 14, 2022 at Weber High School.
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- Roy High’s Ryder Williams throws a pitch in a 6A state tournament game at Weber High School on Saturday, May 14, 2022.
PLEASANT VIEW — Two weeks ago, Weber High’s baseball team had a 7-12 overall record, a result of losing six of its last seven games.
Since then, the Warriors have been rolling with six straight wins. They swept Clearfield, then swept Layton to end the regular season and earned a No. 13 seed in the state playoffs, granting them a home series against No. 20 Roy.
And on Saturday, in a tidy 1 hour and 15 minutes, Weber’s surge continued in a five-inning, 11-1 win over Roy to open the teams’ 6A state tournament playoff series.
Weber senior pitcher Bode Larson needed just 75 pitches to get through the Royals’ lineup as the Warriors, now winners of seven straight, took the first game of the best-of-three series.
“Our kids were excited to host a playoff game. We got hot these last couple weeks and we’ve jumped five spots since the RPI went dark, and we were able to host a series here and our kids were super excited for that and came out hot that first inning,” Weber coach Trevor Howell said.
The Warriors tagged Roy pitcher Ryder Williams for four runs in the first inning. The lead grew to 6-0 before Roy’s Max Robinson hit a no-doubt, solo homer to left field in the fourth inning to make it 6-1.
That was the only blemish on the day for Larson, who had five strikeouts and has been Weber’s most dependable pitcher this season. He’s now logged 56 2/3 innings with a 3.58 ERA.
“The catcher that’s caught me, Mason (Schmitt), he just knows how to catch me, knows where to set up,” Larson said.
The star of Saturday’s show was Warriors’ leadoff hitter and sophomore Ashton Burnett. He hit 3 for 4 with five RBIs, punctuated by a high grand slam to left field that made the score 10-1 in the eventually decisive fifth inning.
The grand slam was Burnett’s first homer of the season and, as multiple players pointed out, maybe Burnett’s first in any capacity (including practice) this year.
“That’s the first one I’ve seen,” Howell said. “The team was happy for him, you could see they were partying in there for him.”
“We were all thinking, it’s deep enough to go, we just didn’t know it was out until it was over. He thought he was the king of the world. He was shocked, we all were,” Larson said.
Larson said the team was excited to host a home playoff series because of the obvious home-field advantage factor. One quirk he pointed out about Weber’s field: the wind commonly blows out to left field, exactly where Burnett’s grand slam and Robinson’s solo shot went.
The Warriors and Royals continue their series at 1 p.m. Monday at Weber High. If Weber wins, it advances to a second-round “super regional” series next week on the road against a to-be-determined opponent (the state tournament brackets are reseeded after this round is complete).
“We want to enjoy this one, put it behind us and be ready to go on Monday, because they’re not gonna lay down, they’re gonna come and fight and give us their best shot,” Howell said.
For Weber, Ian Carver hit a double, drove in two runs and scored three times himself. Ethan Holgate hit 2 for 2 with two RBIs and Dominic Salerno batted 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs.
Roy needs a win to force a third game. Royals coach Monty Vorwaller pointed out the team having four hits on offense and committing three errors on defense as places to improve.
“We’ve got to find some offense, for sure,” Vorwaller said. “(Larson’s) a good pitcher, he locates well and he’s tough to beat.”