High school baseball: Snow Canyon ‘mashes’ way to 7th 4A title with back-to-back wins

KEARNS — Bridger Larsen took a brief detour from the Snow Canyon baseball team to play golf, but on Saturday afternoon the senior was driving the green of the ivy-covered wall at Gates Field.

Larsen belted two home runs as the Warriors jumped out to an 11-2 advantage in the first two innings and cruised to a 15-5 win over Desert Hills in the decisive third game of the 4A baseball state championship series at Kearns High School.

After losing Friday’s first game of the best-of-three series to their heated Region 9 rivals, the Warriors (28-6) knew the only path to the program’s seventh state title would come the hard way.

 

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“After losing that first game, it put a sour taste in our mouths,” said Larsen, who went 2-for-3 with four RBI, a run scored and a walk in the third game. “It was amazing to go out, to feel that, and then come back and win both games. We knew we had to.”

Snow Canyon took advantage of the Thunder’s lack of pitching early, scoring six runs in the first inning including home runs by Trey Vaughn, Talan Hansen and Larsen to jump out to a 6-0 advantage.

In all, the Warriors stroked seven of their first 11 hits for extra bases, including six home runs to clinch their seventh state title and third in the past six years. Vaughn went 3-for-4 with a game-high six RBI and three runs scored to lead Snow Canyon.

“We’re all great hitters. This team is a home-run hitting team, and I’m glad we could show it,” Larsen said.

The multi-tasking infielder who also saw time on the mound is one of them.

“Bridger has been doing it for us all year,” Snow Canyon coach Reed Secrist said, adding that Larsen “thought about not playing” baseball to focus on golf. “He took a little break, came back, and I’m so glad that he did. I knew what he had in him.

“He’s an awesome kid,” Secrist added. “All of these kids are really good kids. It’s been fun to be around them.”

Roah Wall pulled two back with a two-run shot for Desert Hills, but the Warriors led 6-2 after the first frame.

But Snow Canyon wasn’t done. Not by a long shot.

Neither was Larsen, who smacked a three-run homer in his second at-bat and added an RBI double off the center-field wall in his third time at the plate.

The senior then sprinted home from a fly ball deep into right field, helping the Warriors a 13-3 advantage after just three innings.

“We talked like it was a Rocky Mountain School of Baseball tournament, where we won two games and sometimes three on a Saturday. We just had to stick with it,” Secrist said. “But every time I write that lineup, I know I have guys who can mash one through nine, and a few on the bench.

“What you saw right here was something that they could do. To have them do it in the biggest spotlight, and the last two games of our season, was unbelievable.”

Game 2: Snow Canyon evens series with 14-run sixth

Bridger Larsen’s grand slam capped a 14-run sixth inning as Snow Canyon forced a winner-take-all third game with an 18-4 win over Desert Hills in Saturday’s 4A baseball championship at Gates Field.

Asher Williams capped a three-run second to give Snow Canyon a 4-2 lead early as the Warriors (27-6) looked to extend their season and force a winner-take-all third game between the Region 9 rivals.

Keithen Dove sent a homer inside the foul pole in left field to tie the game on a solo shot during the Thunder’s two-run fifth.

But Larsen powered a grand slam to punctuate a 14-run sixth to help the Warriors book a decisive third game with the seven-inning win.

Game 1: Desert Hills rallies from 8 runs down to beat Warriors

Asher Williams, Briggs Fillmore and Cohen Fuller each smacked a home run, and Desert Hills overcame a 9-1 deficit to take Game 1 of the best-of-three 4A baseball championship series with a 12-11 win Friday night over Region 9 rival Snow Canyon at Kearns’ Gates Field.

Kade Kelsch led Snow Canyon at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI as both teams combined for 28 hits.

The top-seeded Warriors (26-5) used a seven-run third inning to jump out to a 9-1 advantage. But Desert Hills battled back with five in the fourth and three in the fifth before scoring three in the top of the seventh to clinch the win.

Williams, Fillmore and Fuller combined for six RBI, and Jaxton Tolman and Harmon Skeen each drove in a pair of runs for the Thunder (24-8), who will try to win their first state title since 2019 Saturday at 1:30 p.m. MT at Gates Field.