Prep baseball: Martinez helps Ogden rally twice to defeat Syracuse during spring break
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- Syracuse High’s Ryder Martinez, left, lays down his glove for a tag as Ogden’s Denver Rhodes slides into second base during a prep baseball game Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Ogden.
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- Ogden High’s Cristian Martinez (19) reaches to catch a Syracuse fly ball as teammate Jonah Holmes (8) watches during a prep baseball game Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Ogden.
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- Syracuse High’s Beau Van der Stappen plants to throw a pitch during a prep baseball game against Ogden on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Ogden.
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- Ogden High’s Carson Cowles, right, reaches for an attempted pickoff throw as Syracuse’s Crosby Albright dives back into the bag during a prep baseball game Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Ogden.
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- Ogden High’s Rodrigo Torres pushes off to deliver a pitch against Syracuse during a prep baseball game Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Ogden.
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- Ogden High’s Lucas Bushell reaches on a swing attempt during a prep baseball game against Syracuse on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Ogden.
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- Syracuse High’s Cole Smith runs to first base during a prep baseball game against Ogden on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Ogden.
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- Syracuse High’s Mason Wolk extends to make a throw across the diamond during a prep baseball game against Ogden on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Ogden.
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- Ogden High’s Lucas Bushell rises to throw the baseball after Syracuse put the ball in play during a prep baseball game Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Ogden.
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- Syracuse High’s Frankie Harris reaches to bunt an Ogden pitch during a prep baseball game Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Ogden.
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- Syracuse High’s Frankie Harris trots toward home plate during a prep baseball game against Ogden on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Ogden.
OGDEN — Pressure is a matter of perspective.
But Ogden High sophomore Cristian Martinez excelled in all situations on Tuesday.
Martinez drove in the walk-off winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning as Ogden twice came from behind to nip Syracuse 8-7 in an unusual nonregion baseball game during spring break.
His bases-loaded laser to right center could have scored three runs, but the Tigers only needed one to break a 7-7 tie in their final at-bat.
“He was really nervous because all the pressure is on him,” Martinez said through an interpreter. “Looking for a pitch and he got it and drove it for the winning run. The rest is adios. Thank God for the opportunity.”
The Tigers trailed 7-3 entering the home half of the sixth when Martinez also batted in a run to help Ogden score four and get even.
“(I) didn’t have the pressure of the last inning, just a normal at-bat … managed to drive in another run,” Martinez said.
Ogden (4-11) opened the sixth inning on four straight singles, with Martinez plating the second run. Centerfielder Easton Green’s single tied it.
“In our dugout, we were all hyped up. ‘We’re not out of this game yet,'” Ogden starting pitcher Rodrigo Torres said. “Everyone sat back on the pitch and started driving in runs; playing simple baseball.”
Torres was partially responsible for the 7-3 hole, allowing those runs in 4 2/3 innings, while yielding nine hits.
“Not my greatest outing; just always trying to throw strikes and keep it simple,” Torres said. “Try and go win a ball game; help my team out in any way I can.”
Xavier Aldous came on to relieve Torres in the fifth inning and only gave up one hit over the last 2 1/3 innings.
“My whole point was to throw strikes right down the middle and it worked. They kept popping up and hitting ground balls,” Aldous said. “I only threw one off-speed pitch; the rest were fastballs. It was pretty straightforward from there.”
He escaped a bases-loaded, seventh-inning jam, getting Syracuse shortstop Cole Smith to ground out to second baseman Martinez for the final out of the inning. Then Martinez won it in the bottom half.
First baseman Denver Rhodes had three hits for the Tigers, and Torres, Green and shortstop Cooper Cowley rapped two each.
Syracuse (0-10) got on the board in the third inning on a Smith home run, after he proved to coach Frans Meyer that he couldn’t lay down a bunt in an earlier at-bat.
“He missed two bunts in a row; next time up, he hit a home run and made up for it,” Meyer mused.
A 2-0 deficit turned into a 3-2 Ogden advantage when the Tigers scored three in the fourth inning for their first lead of the game. Green’s solo home run started the rally.
Again, noting the different degrees of pressure, Torres said of his one-out double in the fourth: “Early in the game not too worried … get a base hit.”
Syracuse countered Ogden’s three-run fourth inning with a five-run fifth, setting the stage for the late-inning Martinez heroics.
Catcher Colsten Thomas had the big hit in the frame, a two-run RBI single for the Titans.
Smith, Thomas and second baseman Daxton Davis stroked two hits apiece for Syracuse.
Both teams knocked 10 hits on Tuesday.
The Titans have yet to win a game and jumped at the chance to play Ogden during spring break.
“They called and we had an opening. We start region next week, so this is good for us before we have games that really count,” Meyer said. “It’s the little things for us. We missed about seven bunt opportunities and dropped a couple of fly balls. Outside of that, the boys played so hard, so well.
“Lots of character; lots of fight. We’re young and need to polish the things that would have finished it for us,” Meyer added.
