St. George Legion splits with Cedar in tune-up for state; STGNews photo gallery

St. George American Legion baseball vs. Cedar summer squad, St. George, Utah, July 23, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News,

ST. GEORGE — With the American Legion state tournament just days away, St. George’s team of young men took one last opportunity to play some hardball Wednesday night, splitting a pair of games against Cedar City on a brutally warm evening at Pine View’s Panther Field.

“I think we’ll be ready for state,” said SG coach Shane Johanson, whose team lost the early game 12-5, then rebounded for a 12-1 win in the late game. “I wasn’t so sure after the first game, but we sharpened things up in the second game.”

Coach Shane Johanson (left) and Josh Howard, St. George American Legion baseball vs. Cedar summer squad, St. George, Utah, July 23, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News,
Coach Shane Johanson (left) and Josh Howard, St. George American Legion baseball vs. Cedar summer squad, St. George, Utah, July 23, 2014 | Photo by Dave Amodt, St. George News,

Though Wednesday night’s games were exhibition and don’t count in the American Legion standings, Johanson said it was important that his Sentinels team played well in preparation for the state tourney.

“St. George has a strong American Legion history,” he said. “We’re going up there to Logan to win it, not just get a couple of games. We’ve played a lot of the teams from up north and we’ve done pretty well. I think we have a good chance.”

St. George plays Northridge Saturday afternoon in Logan in the tournament’s first round. With a win, the Sentinels would turn around and play again, with Cyprus awaiting the winner of the 4 p.m. game.

“We played Cyprus earlier this season and beat them pretty good,” Johanson said. “I think it was 12-1. We feel like we can compete with any of these teams.”

St. George, as an independent, was originally going to have to play in a play-in game. But the Sentinels’ strong regular season, in which they went 10-1-1, gave them the reputation to bypass the play-in game. Twelve teams will compete in the tournament, including host Logan as well as Layton and Syracuse. If SG loses Saturday’s opener, the Sentinels will play Monday at 1 p.m. The American Legion championship is July 31 at 5 p.m.

Wednesday’s meeting with Cedar saw the Cedar squad play well in the opener, building an early lead and never looking back. The Sentinels turned the tables in the nightcap, scoring 12 runs in the first two innings.

Three pitchers, Austin Rueseler, Cris Petrosie and Tyler Johnston, combined to quell the Cedar bats in the 12-1 victory in the late game.

Johansen said Connor Clark and Hunter Hansen both had big days at the plate and also named Logan LaFemina as one of the hitting stars.

St. George News photographer Dave Amodt was at Wednesday’s doubleheader and here are some of his top shots from the evening:

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery. 

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2014, all rights reserved.

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