Ogden High baseball’s best season in decades ends with 6-4 playoff loss to Union
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- Ogden High’s baseball team walks off the field after losing a 3A state tournament one-loss bracket game against Union on Thursday, May 11, 2023 at Kearns High.
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- Ogden’s Ellio Saenz fields a bunt during a 3A state tournament one-loss bracket game against Union on Thursday, May 11, 2023 at Kearns High.
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- Ogden’s Sean Garceau swings at a fastball during a 3A state tournament one-loss bracket game against Union on Thursday, May 11, 2023, at Kearns High.
KEARNS — A warning track — the strip of dirt between the outfield grass and outfield fence on a baseball field — is anywhere from 10-15 feet wide, depending on the field.
That distance is how close Ogden High’s baseball team came from potentially playing another day.
Ellio Saenz’s two-out fly ball with two runners on base went deep to center field, but Union center fielder Gannon Labrum ranged over for the catch on the track and secured the final out.
The Tigers’ best season and deepest postseason run in decades ended with a 6-4 loss to the Cougars in Thursday’s 3A state tournament one-loss bracket game at Kearns High, putting Ogden’s final record at 18-7.
“Definitely down, but we had a great season. We overcame a lot, so I think we just — obviously we’re going to be down, it’s the end of the season, but we had a good road,” senior catcher Sean Garceau said.
Two years ago, Ogden finished 0-19 and has since turned things around to go 14-14 last season and 18-7 in 2023. The records have changed, as has the mindset.
“We’re never satisfied. It’s definitely — as good as we are right now, we’re going to get better,” Ogden coach Doyle Holt said. “We only have four seniors, so we’re going to play and we’re going to play hard, and we’re going to play that brand of baseball.”
Garceau gave Ogden a 2-1 lead with a two-out, two-run double in the third inning that landed in the right-center field gap.
Union responded when its No. 8 hitter, freshman second baseman PJ Hancock, hit a no-doubt, three-run homer into the wind in left field in the fourth inning. The Cougars scored once more in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead.
“It’s never fun losing, ever. But that’s a good team over there. They hit the ball, they hit the ball against a good pitcher, and they have a chance to be as good as anybody left in the tournament,” Holt said.
If Ogden did anything during this game, it made things difficult for the Cougars.
Will Minkevitch roped an RBI single to center field in the top of the sixth, followed by Kolton Rich’s two-out RBI single to right field as the Tigers closed the gap to 5-4.
Union scored another run in the sixth, then loaded the bases with one out. Saenz got a strikeout and was pulled after 5 2/3 innings (five earned runs, two walks, 12 strikeouts) when he hit his pitch count. Relief pitcher Kale Adams then induced a groundout to get Ogden out of trouble.
Garceau and Diego DeLeon were aboard for Saenz’s seventh-inning at-bat, and the fly ball to deep center field looked as if it had promise — but a storybook ending wasn’t on the script writers’ minds.
Garceau, Saenz and Boston DeCocker were the seniors who started, so most of this year’s team figures to be in their same spots next year when the Tigers will ironically welcome Union into Region 13 for the next two years.
Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.
