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Taylorsville • Two games isn't much experience, but for Taylorsville's baseball team, it paid dividends Friday against visiting Jordan.
The Warriors took advantage of three straight walks two intentionally and a balk to rally for two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and overcome the Beetdiggers 6-5 in a matchup of region champions from last season. Jordan was playing its first game of the season, while Taylorsville played its third.
Jake Davison's four-pitch walk plated the game-winning run.
"We've been there before, but [Jordan] is a good team," Taylorsville's Wyatt Caso said. "I feel like we'll be good this season, but we can't take it for granted. We've got to keep working and put in the work every day."
Conner Ogden's two-run homer off Taylorsville reliever Jake Greenberg put Jordan ahead 5-3 in the sixth inning. However, the Warriors got a run back in the bottom half, and Greenberg recovered to strike out the side in the seventh.
Miguel Othon, who had been hitless, delivered a run-scoring double to tie the game before Caso and Zach Stepp were walked intentionally to load the bases. The runners had also moved up on Jordan's third balk of the game.
"You play a team like Jordan, which does so many things well, I certainly didn't think we were going to win on a bases-loaded walk," Taylorsville coach Jake Brown said. "Jordan made a couple of mistakes they probably won't make later on. We're going to smile our way out of the park and then get back to work."
Taylorsville (3-0), which won its second straight one-run game of the young season, managed only single runs in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings before taking advantage of opportunities in the seventh.
"We send our hitters to the plate and tell them to compete every pitch," Brown said. "We didn't hit great, but we put ourselves in a position to win. We certainly don't think this was the win of the year, and it would be the same if we had lost. It was a great learning experience for the team."
Jordan defeated Taylorsville in the preseason last year, but the Warriors got payback in the playoffs, eliminating the Beetdiggers in the one-loss bracket.
After sending just nine batters to the plate through the first three innings, Jordan got things going in the fourth. Ogden hit a two-run double to take a 2-1 lead before the teams traded runs. Taylorsville came within 5-4 in the sixth when Jordan reliever Colton Shaver was called for a balk with a runner at third base.
"We need to work on our base-running and staying with what our coach tells us at the plate and hit to the right side," Caso said.
Caso doubled and had two hits with an RBI while Jordan West had two hits and two RBI for Taylorsville. Ogden drove in four runs for Jordan (0-1), and Mason Kruger doubled among his two hits with one RBI.