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OREM — Juan Diego starting pitcher Sam Silversmith got into a groove around the third inning of Saturday's Class 3A state championship game.
He felt the momentum a little earlier, though.
Silversmith threw a complete-game three-hitter with 11 strikeouts as Juan Diego won its first 3A baseball title since 2011 with an 8-1 win over American Leadership Academy at UCCU Ballpark on the campus of Utah Valley University.
"We've played these guys a couple of times, and the last time I threw against them, they had one run. So I was pretty confident coming in here," said Silversmith, a senior who entered Saturday with a 4.15 ERA. "But my team has a lot of confidence in me, and that pushed me to go the full seven."
Silversmith fanned four in a row between the second and third inning, helping the Soaring Eagle (16-11) jump out to a 5-1 win and cruise to the finish.
"Sam has been one of our best pitchers all year, and one of his best attributes is how composed he is," said Juan Diego coach Taylor Berg, who felt his starting pitcher's confidence in pregame. "He had a very calm, relaxed, sharp bullpen. He's faced them before, and has done really well.
"We knew going in he was going to be great; we just needed to make sure he wasn't too high with his emotions. And by the third or fourth inning, he really locked in."
Andrew Lombana went 4-for-4 with a triple, three RBIs and a two-run homer in the top of the seventh inning out of the nine hole for Juan Diego.
The Soaring Eagle were down seven runs before coming back for a 22-21 win over Canyon View in the third round of the tournament, and won games by scores such as 19-9, 8-4 and Friday's 14-6 win over Carbon in the winners' bracket final.
By Saturday, pitching and defense took care of the rest.
"I love my defense," Silversmith said. "They're my boys, my brothers."
Gabe Perkins and Silversmith added two hits apiece for the Soaring Eagle, who pounded out 11 hits with just three extra-base hits. Instead, Juan Diego used a small-ball game plan with five stolen bases to score in six of the seven innings.
Three of Juan Diego's first five runs came on sacrifice flies, and another when Lombana stretched his second-inning triple into a run on a wild pitch.
"We just stuck to our game plan: hit and run, bunt, try to take extra bags and manufacture runs. We're grateful for big hits when they come, but we're really just trying to stretch and claw, get runs every inning.
"Keep the pressure on them, and just play sound defense. And Sam Silversmith threw a heck of a game, doing more than we could've asked for. It was a complete team effort."
Daysun Cuthill scored the lone run in the bottom of the bottom of the fourth for American Leadership (18-7), which was playing in the state championship game in the 17-year history of the program.
Juan Diego played small ball until Lombana ripped a moon shot over the right-field fence for a two-run homer in the top of the seventh that pushed the Soaring Eagle's lead to 8-1 and clinch the win.
"He's the best nine-hole hitter in the state," Silversmith said of Lombana. "Best everything; he's awesome."
The hefty sophomore hit home runs in back-to-back games for the Soaring Eagle, keying a 14-6 win over Carbon in Friday's tournament semifinals.
"It's just a product of hard work," Berg added of Lombana. "I don't think he hit one home run in BP last year, and he really set out a goal to improve his swing. He made some adjustments, and I think he's now leading the state in home runs — out of the nine hole.
"It just goes to show that it doesn't matter where you hit in the lineup; he bought into that, and never felt like his power needed to be anywhere else. He never quit on his swing, put in the work, and just set the goal and went out to win a championship."
HR!!! @DrewLombana2024 ⚾️🦅 JD now holds ans 8-1 lead in the 7th! pic.twitter.com/XPkMdC0ZDI
— Juan Diego Catholic High School (@JDCHS) May 14, 2022
Juan Diego has three 3-peat title runs in program history, the last of which coming in 2011 — when Berg's senior season started that run.
Breaking the streak meant a lot for the Soaring Eagle alum who played at Utah Valley. Enough that players pleaded with their coach to change the Instagram bio on the team's account, which he runs.
Six-time state champion? Nah, seven sounds better.
"We pride ourselves in being competitive and trying to make it to the last game every year," said Berg, who took over the program prior to the COVID-shortened 2020 season. "We'll definitely strive to do it again next year, but we don't take it for granted.
"It's tough to look ahead, but I think we're set up for a good run next year as well."
ALA 14, Carbon 11
In the first game of the day, Jaeger Nelson went 3-for-4 with four RBIs as the Eagles took a shootout from Carbon to eliminate the Dinos.
Braydon Johnson went 2-for-4 with three runs scored for ALA in the opener, and catcher Ethan Ward was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Keaton Rich went 2-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs to lead Carbon (18-10).
