The Buffaloes are still in the chase for the state playoffs with a 4-2 victory over Timpview Tuesday at Dow James Park.

Sophomore pitcher Colton Burr pitched a complete game scattering five hits and striking out six to pick up the victory for Tooele.

“Colton’s been pitching really well with three or four good starts. He has a good fastball and a good change-up and there are some good fastball hitters on the front end of Timpview’s line-up so he started out throwing the change-up instead early on in the game to throw them off and it worked out,” said coach Tooele coach Danny Medina.

Clint Peterson and Mitch Eyre also tripled in the game and each scored runs for the Buffaloes

The race for playoff spots is wide open with only three teams in Region 7 above .500 in league play. Tooele, Mountain View, Timpview and Orem all are candidates for the fourth and fifth playoff spots. Payson, Springville and Provo are two games ahead of the pack with no one team dominating region play.

Timpview jumped ahead 1-0 to start the game when their leadoff hitter singled and advanced to third on an error. Burr managed to get a strikeout for the second out of the inning, but gave up a single to right to allow the run.

Tooele tied the game in its half of the first inning when leadoff hitter Matt Medina walked, stole second and scored on a bloop single to left field by Steven Witkowski.

The Buffs jumped ahead 2-1 in the second inning when Clint Peterson pounded the ball to deep right field over the head of the outfielder for a triple with one out. Tooele’s next hitter struck out for out number two, but Medina slapped a sharp single to left to score Peterson.

Tooele loaded the bases with no outs in the third inning, but a pair of strikeouts and a ground out left all three stranded.

Timpview threatened to tie it in the fourth inning, but a superb catch off a bounce by Witkowski at first base on a throw from third base ended the inning with the runner stranded at third.

The Buffs increased the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth when Joe Lemongello reached second on a dropped fly ball to right field. Timpview’s right fielder had a hard time with the sun in his eyes all game which led to a pair of errors. Lemongello went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a squeeze bunt by Mitch Eyre.

“We already had left the bases loaded the previous inning with no outs and I wanted to make sure we scored a run this time,” the coach said. “Mitch is a good hitter and we knew he could get his bat on the ball.”

Tooele set itself up for several more runs but ended up leaving 12 on base for the game.

Timpview sliced the lead to 3-2 in the top of the sixth thanks to three singles including an RBI shot down the left field line to score a runner with two outs. The Buffs responded in their half of the sixth when Eyre started the inning by launching a shot over the centerfielder’s head and racing to third for a triple. He then scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-2 Tooele.

Tooele’s defense helped out Burr in the top of the seventh. With one out, Lemongello made a running catch in the right-center field gap for the second out. Timpview still found life with back-to-back hits with two outs, but the lead runner tried to reach third base on a hit and was called out. Right fielder Lemongello relayed a base hit to shortstop Medina who fired to third baseman Colton Barkdull who tagged out the runner to end the game.

Tooele plays at Provo today and at Orem on Tuesday.

Mark Watson: mwatson@tooeletranscript.com