photography / Troy Boman Matt Gochis slides safely at home plate giving the Buffs a 3-2 victory against Springville on Thursday. The Buffs ended the Red Devils’ three-game winning streak.

By Jake Gordon

STAFF WRITER

Playing with their playoff lives on the line Tooele faced the ace of a very tough Springville team on Thursday. Brian Whatcott pitched a near perfect game against the Buffs with 11 strikeouts but Tooele scrapped their way to a much needed 3-2 win over the Red Devils.

With only three base hits in the ball game, Tooele managed to sneak in some late runs with the biggest coming in the sixth. Steve Witkowski hit a routine ground ball but hustled down the line to beat out the double play.

While the Springville players grumbled about the call, Matt Gochis snuck home from second on the play and successfully slid under the tag for the winning run.

Tooele starter Derick Anderson took charge on the mound and pitched five great innings allowing only four hits and a run while striking out two. Zac Clausing came in the final two innings and pitched well enough to earn the win.

After a pair of scoreless innings by both teams, Springville got on the board first. With one out, the Red Devils drew two consecutive walks to get runners in scoring position. Tooele's Anderson got Brandon Miller to ground out to third for the final out but a costly throwing error allowed Springville to take an early 1-0 lead.

Tooele countered in the following inning. After being held hitless in the first three innings, the Buff hitters finally started figuring out Springville's hurler.

Matt Medina led off the inning with a walk and then swiped second base to give Tooele a runner in scoring position for the first time in the game. Matt Gochis followed with a slow grounder to Springville pitcher Whatcott, then he subsequently threw the ball past the first baseman to score Medina.

With Gochis still on base Jordan Linnell sprayed an RBI single to left to give Tooele their first lead 2-1.

As both teams struggled to get hits, they had to come up with ways to manufacture runs. Springville led off the sixth with a walk and got runners moved over to scoring position due to a costly error in right field. Colton Ramon did exactly what he was suppose to do, as he hit a routine fly ball to right to score the tying run on a sacrifice fly.

If they wanted any hope of making the playoffs Tooele knew it would have to find a way to come away with a victory with only two innings left.

In the sixth, both Gochis and Clausing hit back-to-back one-out singles to get things going. Then the hustle of Witkowski beating out the double play ball and allowing Gochis to score gave Tooele a slim 3-2 lead.

Clausing came back to the mound in the seventh to close out the game. After inducing two ground balls to the sure fielding Medina at second, Clausing eliminated the next batter himself with a strikeout and extended their playoff hopes.

Provo 10 -- Tooele 0

After completing the first leg of the late playoff run by beating Springville, Tooele next had to travel to Provo and knock out the team they are battling for a playoff spot.

The second game didn't turn out as good as the first as the Buffs only scattered four hits and failed to get a run across in a 10-0 beating at the hands of the Bulldogs on Monday.

Matt Medina, Matt Gochis, Jordan Linnell and Cody Lopez were the only Tooele hitters to get base hits in the contest.

The Buffaloes also had runners in scoring position in the first two innings but squandered both opportunities.

jgordon@tooeletranscript.com