Broncos suffer close losses to Grand

THE ROUND-UP
by Tad Barton
The San Juan Broncos closed out their regular season this past week with two games against the Grand County Red Devils. The Broncs gave the Red Devils all they could handle, but in the end fell to Grand in Moab, 6-4, on Tuesday, April 25 and by a score of 10-7 on Friday, April 28 in Blanding.
In the first of the two games, San Juan got on the board first, scoring two runs in the top of the third. The Red Devils matched those runs and added a few insurance runs in the bottom of the fourth when they had four runners cross the dish giving them a 4-2 lead over San Juan.
Grand pushed their lead to four runs with a two run fifth inning. After a scoreless sixth, the Broncos made things a little bit interesting for a while in the top of the seventh, but they were only able to score two resulting in a 6-4 victory for Grand.
Trez Perkins was saddled with the loss after doing five innings of work in which he gave up eight hits and six runs and struck out two.
Carver Black dialed up a triple while Baylr Eldredge had two RBIs and Jaxon Lee finished with one RBI.
The second game of the week featuring these two teams was close as well, although early on it looked like it was going to be a lopsided win for Grand. The game started off with neither team being able to score in the first inning.
Then with two outs in the top of the second and the score still 0-0, it looked as if the stalemate would continue into the bottom of the inning, but Grand put together a two out rally, scoring six runs, four of which were unearned, when the Broncos committed errors on routine defensive plays.
San Juan didn’t panic, though, and started to crawl back into the game, scoring four runs in the bottom half of the inning to pull within two, 6-4.
In the third inning, the Broncos held the Red Devils in check and then scored another run in the bottom of the inning to cut the Grand lead to one, 6-5.
The Red Devils used a one-run fifth to go back up by two, but San Juan answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to knot things up at 7-7 with two innings left in the game.
Unfortunately for the Broncos, those two runs would be their last, and they watched the game slip away from them when the Red Devils added one run in the sixth inning and another run in the seventh to defeat San Juan 9-7.
Shaw Nielson, Connor Palmer and Eldredge shared pitching duties for the Broncos, giving up 12 hits and nine runs. Palmer struck out two and walked two, while Eldredge added a strike out and one walk to his stats.
Lee and Blake led the way offensively for San Juan, finishing with three and two RBIs respectively. Jay McDonald also had an RBI for the Broncos, and Lee had a stolen base. Blake netted the only extra base hit for San Juan, a double.
The game was the final regular season game for seven Bronco seniors, Carver Black, Jordan Blake, Jaxon Lee, Kavika Su’eSu’e, Connor Palmer, Jay McDonald and Zach Brown.
These young men and their teammates will now head to the 2A State Tournament where they face off against Providence Hall on May 6 at 11 a.m. That game will be played at Providence Hall, which is located at 4557 Patriot Ridge Dr. in Herriman, UT.
Softball
The San Juan softball team started off the week with a come-from-behind win at Grand on Tuesday, April 25. After falling behind 4-0 after two innings of play, the Broncos scored one run in the third and three in the fourth to tie the game at 4-4.
Both teams scored one run in the fifth, and San Juan posted another in the sixth to complete the comeback with a 6-5 victory of the Red Devils.
The Broncos then headed to Gunnison, UT to take on the Gunnison Valley Bulldogs in a double header on Wednesday, April 26. Those games didn’t go quite as well for the Broncos, losing game one by a score of 16-2 and the nightcap by a score of 18-5.
The Lady Broncos will be back in action on Wednesday, May 3 at home against Grand at 4 p.m. They will then head to Emery to wrap up their 2A East Region schedule on Friday, May 5 at 2 p.m.
Track & Field
The San Juan High track teams competed at the Eastern Utah Championships hosted by Grand County High School on Friday, April 28. The boys team finished fourth out of 11 teams while the girls team placed seventh out of 12 teams.
San Juan athletes who placed for the girls team were: Jessica Walker, fifth in the 1600 meters and fourth in the 3200 meters; Nizhoni Warren, eighth in the 1600 meters and fifth in the 3200 meters; Rachel Barton, fifth in the 100 meter hurdles; and Katie Giddings, fifth in the Discus.
Boys: Nathan Nielson, fourth in the 100 meters and fifth in the 200 meters; Ethan Vess, sixth in the 100 meters; Garrett Chamberlain, seventh in the 800 meters; Aaron Mitchell, sixth in the Long Jump and fourth in the High Jump; Jaxon Torgersen, fifth in the High Jump; Peter Shumway, first in the Shot Put and second in the Discus; Walker Black, fourth in the Discus; Nathan Nielson, Ethan Vess, Garrett Chamberlain and Jaxon Torgerson, first in the 4x100 Relay; Jaxon Torgersen, Thomas Hook, Garrett Chamberlain and Nathan Nielson, second in the 4x400 Relay; and Lymir Benn, Ammon Ward, Grange Simpson and Trek DeWitt, sixth in the Sprint Medley.
Next up for the Broncos will be the Mr.Mac/BYU Invitational on May 5 and 6 at Clarence Robison Track on the Brigham Young University campus in Provo, UT.