During the regular season, the Mountain Ridge baseball team came up just short of winning a region title. The same thing happened during the Class 6A state tournament. 

The Sentinels put together a successful season, even if a championship eluded them.

Mountain Ridge went 23-9 on the year. No one in 6A earned more wins than the Sentinels this past season, and only four teams in the entire state amassed more victories. Mountain Ridge was a game behind Riverton in the Region 2 standings, as the Sentinels went 11-4 in league play. During the regular season, Mountain Ridge defeated Riverton twice in three matchups. 

The state tournament was filled with surprise, as a No. 5 seed (Lehi) defeated a No. 10 seed (Corner Canyon) for the title. Mountain Ridge was just one win away from reaching the finals. 

The Sentinels got to the semifinals and upended fellow region foe Corner Canyon 3-1 on May 22. It was the fourth in as many tries for Mountain Ridge over Corner Canyon, as it had defeated the Chargers in all three regular-season matchups. In the playoff win, Mountain Ridge had eight hits and allowed just two, with pitcher Dylan Singleton striking out four batters. Edwards also hit a double and a triple. However, the win in the tournament was the first loss in the postseason for the Chargers in the double-elimination tournament, so a second game between the two rivals took place May 23. 

Unfortunately for the Sentinels, they couldn’t make it five in a row over Corner Canyon.

Corner Canyon scored seven runs in the opening inning, and the Sentinels couldn’t recover. Still, the Sentinels made a furious rally in the bottom of the seventh after Corner Canyon had built a 10-4 advantage. Mountain Ridge scored four runs and got close to making the comeback. Ultimately, it fell short, leaving the Sentinels with a season-ending 10-8 loss. Mountain Ridge had 10 hits but gave up 13 and committed five errors. Leo Bacciocco hit a triple and drove in two runs. Ethan Iacono and Juan Gonzalez each hit doubles. Remington Edwards had two RBI. 

The tough loss was a difficult one to take, but it didn’t diminish the team’s accomplishments. 

Mountain Ridge opened the tournament with a pair of wins in the super regionals over Region 3’s Lone Peak. Win No. 1 came May 16 by the count of 2-1. In the hard-fought victory, the Sentinels got a big day from Iacono, who hit a home run. Edwards and Bacciocco each hit doubles. The following day, Mountain Ridge had a lot more breathing room, blowing out Lone Peak 11-1. The Sentinels outhit the Knights 14-4. Seven of Mountain Ridge’s runs came in the sixth inning. Pitcher Anderson Decker was fantastic, striking out 10 batters. Meanwhile, Stockton Fowlks impressed with two home runs, a double and three RBI. Edwards hit a home run and brought in three runs. Juan Gonzalez and Bacciocco hit doubles.

A setback on May 20 put the Sentinels up against the ropes. 

Mountain Ridge fell to Region 1 foe Fremont, the sixth seed in the tournament, 8-4. Mountain Ridge got behind 6-2 after three innings and couldn’t catch up. Luke Nelson, Austin Ellis and Bacciocco each hit doubles. Gonzalez had two RBI. 

Mountain Ridge stayed alive and advanced by defeating Davis on May 21 by the count of 6-5. The Sentinels got off to a good start by scoring five runs in the top of the first inning. However, Davis kept things close with three runs of its own. It was a back-and-forth battle after that, but the Sentinels held on. Fowlks and Cooper Goff each had two RBI. 

To advance to the semifinals, Mountain Ridge got revenge on Fremont on May 22. 

In a loser-goes-home matchup, the Sentinels prevailed with their season on the line by the score of 10-0. They outhit the Silverwolves 8-4 and committed no errors. The game was close through the top of the fifth inning, with Mountain Ridge up just 2-0. But in the bottom of the fifth, the Sentinels had six runs to put the contest away.  Decker was the winning pitcher, striking out nine batters in the process. Ellis had two RBI, and Fowlks hit a double and drove in a run. 

That victory got the Sentinels to their matchup with Corner Canyon. 

The Sentinels have reason for optimism in 2025. Several key players will come back, making Mountain Ridge an early contender in the race for state supremacy. Head coach Brock Whitney, who has a 71-48 mark in his five years with the school, will welcome back productive players and leaders such as Fowlks, Bacciocco, Iacono and Goff. Of course, Mountain Ridge lost some talent, too, with Ellis, Edwards, Decker and Gonzalez, among others, graduating. Still, the Sentinels only lost seven seniors from the 2024 squad. 

As usual, Region 2 should be tough again next season, with fellow league foes Riverton, Corner Canyon and Bingham always posing formidable tasks. 

The 2024 squad went down as one of the most explosive in the state, with the Sentinels scoring 264 on the season, the most in Class 6A and eighth-most in the state this past spring. The team had 13 games this season in which it had at least 10 runs as well as 18 games with at least eight runs. The pitching and fielding were no slouch either. Mountain Ridge allowed 134 runs in 32 games, an average of just 4.2 an outing.  λ