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Murray • After Wednesday's game, Cottonwood senior Tevita Gerber went to the visiting dugout, grabbed a rake and headed for the pitcher's mound for a little field maintenance.

There was little that Gerber did not do for the Colts during the game. He pitched a two-hitter, picked off a pair of baserunners and singled in a run during a 2-0 victory against American Fork in the Class 5A state playoffs.

"I just wanted to go out with a bang," said Gerber, who retired the last 13 batters he faced. "My pitching coaches always stress first-pitch strikes. I was doing that, and they just happened to be swinging.

"American Fork is a great team, with a lot of depth at pitching," he added. "But I just put myself into the grind mode."

Cottonwood (25-2), which beat West Jordan 13-1 on Tuesday in the opening round of the 5A tournament, will face Lone Peak next week in a winners bracket semifinal.

"He's been awesome all year long. It was really exciting to see him pitch like that, last game here at Cottonwood," Colts coach Jason Crawford said. "To see him go out like that, it chokes me up."

American Fork (19-8) had some good pitching itself — reliever Jake Norton struck out the side in the fifth on a total of nine pitches. He and Hayden Wood combined on a five-hitter.

But with Gerber firing away, Cottonwood got what it needed off Wood with runs in the third and fourth innings.

The first run came home when Wil Jensen cracked a single to left-center to score Mason Baker.

That was only the third hit Wood gave up. The fourth was registered by Gerber, who placed an opposite-field single to left for the two-run advantage.

The Cavemen will play Lehi on Monday in an elimination game. Monday and Tuesday's games will take place at Kearns High, with the 5A tourney moving to Utah Valley University at the end of the week.

"He did a really good job of keeping us off-balance. One of the best things he does is control the run game," said American Fork coach Jarod Ingersoll of Gerber, who had just three runners get to first — and picked off two of them.

With the potential of playing as many as six games next week, Gerber was confident in the ability of the Colts' pitching staff to stay effective as long as necessary.

"We have so much depth pitching-wise. We have Wil Jensen and Jeff Borquez, who are both undefeated so far," Gerber said. "We have a lot of depth, and it really helps. Our first two games are the toughest ones, and we happened to get past them." —

Cottonwood 2, American Fork 0

R Cottonwood senior Tevita Gerber does not allow a runner past first base in a two-hit shutout, retiring the last 13 batters in order.

• Will Jenson's RBI single in the third scores the first run, and Gerber adds a run-scoring single in the fourth.

• American Fork's Hayden Wood and Jake Norton allow just five hits.