6A playoffs: Landon Tanner’s complete game sends No. 9 Farmington baseball past No. 1 Fremont
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- Farmington High’s Landon Day (12) celebrates after a base hit against Fremont at the 6A baseball state tournament on Monday, May 23, 2022, at BYU’s Miller Park.
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- Farmington High’s Landon Tanner throws a pitch against Fremont at the 6A baseball state tournament on Monday, May 23, 2022, at BYU’s Miller Park.
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- Fremont High’s Gavin Douglas throws a pitch against Farmington at the 6A baseball state tournament on Monday, May 23, 2022, at BYU’s Miller Park.
PROVO — Baseball teams just haven’t been able to shut down Fremont High’s batting this year.
The Silverwolves came in averaging 9.9 runs per game on offense and their lowest single-game output of the season was three runs against Skyridge in the season’s second game.
In their three-game, regular-season sweep over the Farmington Phoenix in March that eventually served as the Region 1 title series, the Silverwolves scored five, eight and 18 runs.
For Farmington right-handed pitcher Landon Tanner, it was “challenge accepted” on Monday in the championship bracket phase of the 6A baseball state tournament at Brigham Young University’s Miller Park.
Tanner pitched a complete game as No. 9 Farmington beat No. 1 Fremont 2-1 in a high-level pitchers’ duel.
“I hit my spots, kept it to 13 pitches or less (per inning) as much as I could. We, at the plate, got after it and played some really good defense,” Tanner said. “The defense behind me was great. I think that’s how we kept them to one run.”
Park Romney’s RBI single scored Tucker Wall in the first inning as Farmington took a 1-0 lead before the Silverwolves (26-2) came to the plate.
Then, Tanner outdueled Fremont lefty Gavin Douglas the rest of the way, sending the Phoenix to a 7 p.m. showdown Tuesday back at Miller Park against either No. 4 Lone Peak or No. 5 American Fork, and condemning the Silverwolves to the one-loss bracket.
Douglas pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing six hits, two runs (one earned) and two walks with four strikeouts. Tanner allowed six hits, one run and one walk with four strikeouts. The defense behind him committed zero errors.
“I would say the best pitch I had was my curveball. My changeup was on today. The catcher, Mason (Cook), great job behind the plate, great job framing,” Tanner said.
Monday was especially sweet for Tanner, who pitched in the second game against Fremont in the regular season. Tanner was tagged for four runs in a brief pitching outing. Farmington lost that game 8-7.
“They took me out in the second inning (that game) and I was able to come back today with some vengeance and having a desire to beat them,” he said.
Douglas hit his pitch count with two out and two runners on base in the top of the seventh inning and exited to a round of applause.
Earlier in the game as Farmington chased its second run, Fremont right fielder Brigg Grange threw a runner out at third base to end a threat. Eventually, the Phoenix broke through.
After Calvin Morrow came in to pitch for Fremont, Farmington catcher Cook came up to bat and brought in the Phoenix’s second run of the game with a hard and well-placed ground ball to shortstop Logan Penland, whose throw to first base was high and pulled Bridger Clontz off the bag.
Fremont’s Peyton Surrage gave the Silverwolves a chance in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI triple to cut the score to 2-1. Surrage never got to home, though.
Douglas was the final batter and grounded out right to Tanner, who jogged over to first base to end the game with his legs after two hours of slinging the ball with his right arm.
“Landon has worked his tail off all year. He’s a leader for us; he’s tough, he’s really competitive. I had a ton of confidence in him coming out today and giving us a real good chance against those guys, because they’ve got great hitters,” Farmington coach Alex Exon said.
Romney hit 2 for 4 for Farmington and Landon Day hit 2 for 3 with a double. Surrage was the only multihit player for Fremont (2 for 3) and catcher Bodee Goins hit 1 for 2 with a walk.
For Fremont, the attention now turns to the one-loss bracket after the team suffered just its second loss of the entire season — the Silverwolves were on a 25-game win streak — and its first since March.
“I thought we played well, hit the ball hard. We’re playing in a huge park, a lot of those balls — it’s a big-league park here, it’s a little different. I thought we missed a few key hits in key moments that would’ve made a difference including that last inning there,” coach Garrett Clark said.
“Gavin pitched great, unfortunately we had to play perfect.”
The task gets a little harder for Fremont with the prospect of a possible extra game in its quest to make a deep playoff run. Despite the name “one-loss” bracket, the Silverwolves face the Lone Peak/American Fork loser, which will still be a very good team in its own right, in an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at BYU.
5A PLAYOFFS: BOUNTIFUL 8, OREM 5
At Utah Valley University, No. 10 Bountiful led 7-0 after three innings and held off a late charge for a big win against No. 9 Orem in the championship bracket of the 5A baseball state tournament.
Kaisan Averett hit 3 for 3 with two doubles and five RBIs for Bountiful (22-9) and was the only Redhawks player with multiple hits or multiple RBIs. Truman Duryea pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed five runs (four earned) with nine strikeouts.
Bountiful faces No. 2 Lehi at 7 p.m. Tuesday at UVU.