Carbon Baseball Places Second at State

Carbon’s Jadon Robertson and the rest of the Carbon senior baseball players receive the 2018 3A State Runner-Up Trophy from UHSAA Assistant Director Jeff Cluff. (Photo Credit: Loren Miller)
Carbon baseball lost to the Grantsville Cowboys 12-4 in the 3A State Championship on Saturday night in Kearns.
Carbon took the long way to get to the championship game, they had two go through the loser’s bracket and play three games in a 24-hour period to play Grantsville.
On top of that, the Dinos had to go through several rain delays including a five-and-a-half-hour delay on Saturday.
To get the 3A State title, they had to get two wins against the Cowboys to claim their first state title since 2005.
Unfortunately for Carbon, it was the Cowboys night on Saturday.
Grantsville opened game with a big six run inning to set the pace for the rest of the game.
“They did the same thing we did last night with Richfield, they came out and swung the bat. They out hit us by one, I mean we hung with him in the hit department but doubles count more than singles,” said Carbon Head Coach Jeff Cisneros.
Carbon would answer in the second inning with three runs of their own to cut the score to 6-3 including a huge triple by Ty Anderson.
However, in the second inning Grantsville didn’t let up and added four more runs to push their lead to seven.
Grantsville would add two more runs in the third inning and go scoreless the rest of the way. 
Carbon would put a run on the board in the top of the fourth but get shutout by the Cowboys in the final three innings. 
Following the game, Carbon senior Cody Lowe said the Dinos played their best against a tough, very deserving Grantsville squad.
“Those guys are such good ball players, they deserve that state championship but we did what we could and we played the best we could,” said Lowe.
The Dinos would fall short of their goal of winning the state championship but Cisneros said after the game he was proud of the way his team fought through challenging times throughout the tournament.
“I am proud of my guys, we battled today through a lot of adversity. When you get up at six in the morning and you stand around and wait around until 3:30 before you play a game because of the weather to play like we did, it means a lot,” said Cisneros.
With the 2018 season coming to end in Kearns on Saturday night and coming so close to getting the 3A State Championship Trophy, Cisneros says that this season was a huge step forward for the Carbon baseball program.
“I am disappointed for our guys because I know they really wanted a state title but I am extremely proud and happy for them because they accomplished a lot,” said Cisneros. “We got Carbon baseball back on the map competing for state titles and they paved the way for the younger group to come through.”
Cisneros was also grateful for the work and effort his seniors put in the past four years as well.
One of those seniors who finished his Carbon career on Saturday was Lowe who said after the game that the 2018 season was special to him. 
“It was by far the best season I have ever played because I got to play with some of the best players. They are all great friends and I love them all,” said Lowe.
Next season Carbon will return several key players on their team who gained a lot of experience this season including Braxton Bennett, Collin Lewis, Anthony Jones, and Anderson.
With those returning starters along with underclassmen still developing in the program, the Dinos will have a great chance at returning to Kearns for the tournament in 2019.