The Carbon Dinos earned a spot in the 3A State Championship final on Saturday at Salt Lake Community College facing the Grantsville Cowboys. Carbon had fought their way through the gauntlet of the one-loss bracket after losing to the Cowboys back on May 8 in the opening round of the playoff in Price. Knowing that they would need to beat them twice, the Dinos came out and won the first game 5-4 and would unfortunately fall in game 2, 14-4.
After losing to Grantsville on May 8 in Price, Carbon went on a five game winning streak which included wins over the top two teams in the state and in the semifinal game defeating region foe Richfield 7-4, to advance to the final against the Cowboys.
Below is a recap of both games with Granstville:
Game 1- Win- 5-4
The Dinos jumped out early in the second inning on two singles from the bats of Derek Robinson and Keaton Rich that each drove in one run. A fielders choice would bring Rich home and an error on the shortstop let Jacob Vasquez score another pushing the Carbon lead to 4-1.
Beau Vea started on the mound for the Dinos, and kept the Cowboys in check with the help of his defense until the fourth when Grantsville would tie it up at four all.
Carbon collected 10 hits in the game with perhaps none bigger than a single in the sixth inning from Cooper Schade driving home Rylan Hart putting the Dinos up 5-4 and sealing the victory.
Jordan Fossat, Ridge Nielsen, Robinson and Hart all had two hits in the contest with Robinson,Hart and Nielsen each gathering up an RBI.
Vea went four innings getting the win, giving up four runs (three earned), on four hits striking out four. Hart came into close out the game with three innings of work, allowing four hits and striking out three.
Game 2- Loss- 14-4
Grantsville put five runs on the board quickly against the Dinos in game two, putting Carbon on the defensive early. The Dinos would put one run on the board in the inning off of a Kade Dimick fly out to left that allowed Hart to tag up and score.
The two teams held each other in check with pitching and defense as they moved into the later innings. Carbon would cut the Cowboys lead to four in the third but that was as close as they would get as Grantsville used a six run fifth inning pushing the Dinos to the edge of elimination.
The Dinos added two more runs in the bottom of fifth off of walks of Schade and Vea. The Cowboys would add two more runs pushing the score to 14-4, ending the game.
Hart had two hits and one run in the game. Fossat had one hit and drove in a run and Dimick registered on RBI as well.
Vasquez got the start on the mound for the Dinos taking the loss giving up five runs (two earned) on three hits. O’Neil came in to go three innings and allowed three earned runs while striking out two. Hart and Camden Wilson finished out the contest.
With the loss Carbon claimed second in the 3A State Championship tournament where they played nine games, more than any other team in the playoffs.
The Dinos finished the season as Region 12 Champions with a 24-9 record overall and a 9-1 region record.