Though American Fork beat Lone Peak two out of three times in the regular season to win the Region 4 title and are the defending 6A state champions, the Cavemen found themselves seeded No. 5 while their rivals ended up seeded No. 4.

This meant Lone Peak was the designated home team in the 8-team bracket portion of the 6A state baseball tournament that started Monday.

American Fork seemed to take offense to that and crushed Lone Peak, 12-2.

“To see them (Lone Peak) as No. 4 after we took region definitely lit a fire under us,” American Fork starting pitcher Kaden Carpenter said.

Cavemen head coach Jared Ingersoll does see how the seeding would be motivation for his players, but he also recognizes there is a bigger picture than just winning one game against a rival.

“At the end of the day, when you get to the big field, you have to beat everybody,” Ingersoll said. “(Winning) region is great but this team has the goal of being in that last game (playing for the state title). It’s a huge stepping stone in the right direction, don’t get me wrong, but we have to stay hungry.”

Carpenter was one of many Cavemen stars who had a dominant performance. Not only was he excellent on the mound, he chipped in two hits, two RBI and a run scored from the offensive end of things.

As a pitcher, the American Fork southpaw pitched five shutout innings allowing just two hits and a walk. But in all three cases that runner was erased, twice by double play, and then by a heady pickoff move by Carpenter himself.

That meant the Cavemen lefty faced the minimum of 15 hitters in his five innings of work and not one single Knight player reached second base while he was on the mound.

“I felt good out there,” Carpenter said. “All I had to do was throw strikes and trust my defense, and we have the best defense in the state.”

Carpenter provided the first RBI of the game when his single plated Fisher Ingersoll, who reached base by an error. Later in the inning, Dax Newman plated Easton Jones, who reached by a walk, to give American Fork a 2-0 lead.

The Cavemen tacked on another two runs in the fourth inning as CJ Mascaro singled and scored when Ryder Robinson’s deep fly ball was dropped resulting in a 3-base error. Then Robinson scored when Ingersoll reached base on an error as the Caveman shortstop used his blazing speed to put pressure on the opposing defense.

Then in the top of the fifth and sixth innings, American Fork exploded for three and four runs respectively to go ahead 11-0. Jones and Josh Rojas each had 2-run home run blasts in the sixth inning.

Jared Ingersoll then lifted Carpenter for the bottom of the sixth inning as Lone Peak was able to score two runs to avoid losing by the 10-run rule.

Lone Peak’s Dane Tenney scored after hitting a double while Easton Comer singled and drove in Tenney and American Fork’s lead was trimmed to 11-2.

But in the seventh Carpenter doubled to plate Robinson, who also doubled to make the score 12-2. Then in the bottom of the seventh, the Knights went quietly.

With the win, American Fork now faces No. 9 seeded Farmington, who shocked top-seeded Fremont in a pitcher’s duel, 2-1. That game will be played at 7 p.m. at the Larry H. Miller Field on the campus of BYU in Provo.

Lone Peak will take on Fremont at 1:30 p.m. with the loser being eliminated from the tournament. The winner of that game will take on the loser of the Farmington vs. American Fork game at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday in another elimination game.

Note: Jared Ingersoll’s younger brother Jason Ingersoll coaches at Lehi (5A) and both teams picked up wins by 10 runs on Monday. If both teams can win five more games, it would be the first time in state history that brothers led their respective teams to state titles in the same year.

The No. 7-seeded Vikings hung with the No. 2-seeded Miners for four innings but things fell apart for Pleasant Grove in the fifth. That eventually led to a 8-2 victory for Bingham.

With no score on the board, a couple of dropped third strikes and multiple errors by the Vikings allowed the Miners to get extra baserunners on base.

Bingham took advantage and exploded for six runs in the frame, which proved to be plenty of offense for the Miner pitchers and defense.

Pleasant Grove scored a run in the top of the sixth and the top of the seventh, but Bingham tallied two more runs in the sixth to keep the Vikings from getting close.

With the loss, Pleasant Grove dropped in to the elimination side of the four-team bracket. The Vikings will play the loser of the late game between Taylorsville and Riverton in an elimination game at BYU’s Miller Park on Tuesday at 11 a.m.

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