Grantsville scored two runs in the first inning and three in the fifth to outlast the Buffaloes 5-4 as Tooele made it a one-run game in the top of the sixth inning at home.
“In our format where you play two games a week, if you don’t get them both it’s really just a draw,” said Grantsville head coach Loren Anderson. “We feel really good to get a sweep against anyone we can.”
Grantsville captain Wyatt Barrus led the game off with a walk and later scored on a passed ball after Cowboy pitcher Kyle Peterson bunted him to second.
Center fielder Riley Smith drew a walk from the fourth spot in the order, stole second and scored on a Christian Kelley RBI single to center to make it 2-0 Cowboys.
With one out in the top of the fifth, Barrus singled up the right side and later scored as part of a three-run, multiple-error inning.
Then Tooele started to string things together.
Tooele shortstop McKay Pollmann, who went 4-for-4 from the leadoff spot, hit his third single of the game up theright side. Pollmann scored on a pair of throwing errors two batters later to make it 5-1.
“He was keeping it down and a lot of outside,” Pollmann said of Peterson’s pitching. “This week in the cage especially we’ve been working on down and outside. It just happened to work out, so I just took it opposite field.”
Peterson gave up a single and two doubles in the next inning, giving Pollmann an RBI double to make it a three-run game, and an RBI single to right fielder Mitch Gibson to make it 5-3. Gibson later scored on Barrus’ errant throw home.
“We were just trying to keep our heads,” Pollmann said. “Five runs isn’t very much when anything can happen in baseball. We were just focusing on what we had to do and controlling what we could control to get back into the game.”
Anderson moved Barrus onto the mound for the next at bat, and the Grantsville star struck out two of the next four batters he faced in the 1.1 innings, allowing one hit.
Peterson went 5.2 innings and allowed four runs on eight hits, striking out five batters and walking one in the win.
Tooele catcher TJ Bender went 3-for-4 from the third batting position. Gibson went 2-for-4 with a run and a strikeout. Center fielder Blake Paystrup had a single and a run to go along with a strikeout. Left fielder Wyatt Steed had a stolen base after he walked in the second inning.
Tooele left seven batters on base, six of whom were in scoring position.
“We just didn’t convert early,” Tooele head coach Catham Beer said. “We left guys on second and third in the early innings. That’s what killed us.”
Tooele pitcher Josh Bryan was credited with the loss, giving up one hit and two runs in 2.1 innings, striking out one and walking three. Hector Arce came on in relief to finish the game and struck out six Cowboys and walked one, giving up three runs on six hits.
“When you play seven [innings] you win, but we didn’t play seven, we played three,” Beer said. “But we kept our head. We played well.”
Barrus was called out on an appeal for leaving second base early on Peterson’s deep fly ball to left field, or he might have scored a batter later on designated hitter Brayden Peterson’s double to the gap in right during the top of the seventh inning.
The Cowboys managed to put runners on first and second in the same inning when Bender didn’t tag out Smith after catching a third-strike pitch in the dirt, but Arce struck out Kelley in the next at bat to get out of the jam.
This is the second win Grantsville has over Tooele in one week, and the Cowboys are now 2-0 in Region 11.
“We’re a good team,” Pollmann said. “We just need to close the games out.”