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American Fork • The Lone Peak baseball team scored in back-to-back innings and then stymied a late rally by American Fork to hold on for a 5-3 victory to close out the three-game series Friday evening.

Knight left-hander Seth Corry held his team together on both sides of the plate to help overcome an uncharacteristic six fielding errors in a contest played in front of hundreds of spectators.

"Holy cow, what an atmosphere," the pitcher said.

This crosstown rivalry always draws a crowd, but Friday's was by far the biggest of the week and reacted to every pitch and play, especially late when the game was on the line.

Corry struck out 14 and gave up no hits and no earned runs through six innings of work, although the Cavemen did score two runs because of the shaky fielding.

"I knew American Fork would come out ready," Corry said. "They're a free-swinging team, but I knew if I could pound the zone all night they weren't going to hit me."

He faced just one batter in the seventh before being relieved due to pitch count. Sophomore Kobe Freeman worked his way through a bumpy inning to get the save.

The pitch-count rule is new this year and this is a game that Corry would probably have finished in the past, but he said he wasn't worried when he had to come to the dugout.

"I had all the faith in the world in Kobe, and he had the defense behind him," Corry said. He added that some of the mistakes in the game could be attributed to guys trying a little too hard.

"You don't want to make the game too big," he said. "Hopefully we'll learn from this going forward."

As it played out, Corry hit a solo homer over the right-field fence for a 3-0 lead in the top of the fifth inning.

Payton Freeman then drew a walk and scored the game-winner on a triple by Eli Norman.

"I hadn't had any good swings in my earlier at-bats," Norman said. "This time I got ahead 3-1 and thought I would get a good pitch.

"I was glad we were able to hold onto the lead at the end," he continued. "I'm proud of my boys. They fought hard and stepped up today. We control our own destiny now. If we can sweep next week, we'll win the region title and that will provide the easiest path to the state championship," Norman concluded. —

Storylines

R After losing twice to American Fork earlier in the week, Lone Peak rides the arm and bat of Seth Corry to an exciting win to close out the series.

• The Knights (16-5, 13-2) retain their lead in Region 4 by a single game as they prepare to face second-place Pleasant Grove (16-6, 12-3) to end the regular season.