photography / Maegan Burr Tooele High School senior outfielder Cody Lopez (3) slides back to first before taking back off to second after a Morgan error. Tooele rallied twice to avoid losing to the Trojans.

by Jake Gordon

STAFF WRITER

Trailing by five runs in the eighth and coming back, then trailing again by one run in the ninth and coming back, Tooele was determined to win.

That is exactly what the Buffs did in the bottom of the 12th inning as Steven Witkowski came around to score the winning run in a 7-6 victory over Morgan.

After going scoreless in the first seven innings, Tooele broke out of its funk right on time, scoring six combined runs in the eighth and ninth to tie the game each time.

Tooele used an array of pitchers, just trying to get some arms into the rotation. Zac Clausing started the game throwing two scoreless innings with two strike outs.

Matt Trussell and Chisholm Wooley each followed with two scoreless innings a piece while the offense was providing little support.

Morgan starter Tanner Earl was also effective in keeping the Tooele batters off-balanced as both teams were unable to score in the first seven innings.

In the top of the eighth the Trojans exploded for the games first runs. Chans Porter hit a smoking grounder through the left side of the infield scoring both Parker Winchester and Chase Markham to give Morgan a two-run edge.

Unfortunately for Tooele they didn't stop the flow of more runs. Earl came to the plate and lined a hard single to left scoring two more runs. After a walk was issued to force in another run, things looked bleak with Tooele down 5-0.

No matter how daunting a five run deficit looks, the Buffs never backed down. Tooele miraculously earned five runs in the bottom half of the eighth thanks to singles from Matt Gochis, Zac Clausing and Steven Witkowski but could not get the sixth run across to win the game.

"I was very impressed on how our guys didn't give up after being down," coach Danny Medina said. "We showed a lot of heart out there."

Once again Tooele found themselves in a hole, this time by one run in the ninth inning and once again the comeback kids battled back.

Again Harris was the one on the base paths and ended up tying up the game again in the bottom of the ninth.

With two comebacks in their back pocket, Tooele did not want to let this one get away.

Witkowski led off the 12th with a walk, and playing small-ball, Tooele was able to squeeze-bunt in the winning run across home plate.

Tooele's next game is Tuesday at Timpview at 4 p.m.