Alta Baseball Defeats Number One Salem Hills; Wins Ninth Game of the Season

Alta’s baseball team put the state on notice Saturday when they defeated number one ranked Salem Hills by a score of 4-2.

The hawks were led in the effort by senior Bentley Crook, who took to the mound and dominated the Salem Hills lineup, allowing one earned run through 7 innings while striking out just as many.

“It helps when you have one of the best pitchers in the state on the mound for you,” says head coach Daron Connelly, “What Bentley showed us on Saturday was a first team all state performance, and what we all already knew he was capable of.”

Crook’s performance on Saturday was good for his fourth win of the season, and brought his ERA to 0.87, the fourth best in all of 5A. When he recorded his seventh strikeout of the game on the final batter of the game, he brought himself to 4th in the state in total strikeouts at 41.

Crook credits the chemistry on the team and the fun they having playing a sport they love. “I have had tons of fun this year so far,” Crook said. “Our chemistry has greatly improved form last year and it has helped us become better friends and win more games.”

Crook also led the hawks from the plate, driving in 3 runs, two of which came from his 4th home run of the year. The win gave the hawks a much needed boost to 14 in the RPI, a number that Coach Connelly thinks could go even higher.

“What we saw Saturday was a total concentrated effort from every guy on our roster. When we play like we did we can go and compete with anyone no matter their record or the name of their jersey,” Connelly said.

With a little under half a season left the hawks have already passed their wins from last year and don’t look like they plan on stopping anytime soon.

The hawks record currently sits at 9-7 with 8 games left in the season.