If baseball games only lasted a couple innings, Tooele would have gone undefeated in the Donnie Pymm Pizza Hut Classic in St. George on Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately, the Buffaloes allowed late runs in all three of their games and left Southern Utah with a 0-3 record.

Storms canceled the fourth game for Tooele as they got in three quality games before the rains came.

“There was just a couple of key things where we would have an error or a wild throw that would extend the later innings,” said Tooele coach Dan Medina. “We were able to put runs on the board early and we had a couple situations where we would hit the ball hard but right at people.”

Cedar 5 — Tooele 3

Tooele baseball started off with hot bats and were scoring runs and even held a 2-0 lead after two innings in their opening game in St. George Friday morning, but that quickly fell apart.

Cedar tied the game 2-2 with the help of a home run by Brooks Orton and then took the lead with a double by Brett Giddings. Tooele tied the game back up but the momentum belonged to Cedar as they scored in the sixth and seventh to secure a 5-3 victory over Tooele at Elks Field.

Tooele only managed one hit in the game but it was a big one. The lone hit was a home run by Colton Burr to left field but after that the Tooele bats went silent. Skyler Holt pitched a strong game on the mound by striking out seven in six innings while only allowing two base hits.

“I was proud of the front end of our pitching,” Medina said.

After Holt shut down Cedar in the opening half, Tooele received a big burst off the bat of Burr. Pulling a ball down the left field line, Burr smoked a ball over the fence to give Tooele the early 1-0 edge.

Tooele continued their scoring ways in the second inning, even without the help of a hit. With Spencer Bunn on first, Dylan Weishaupt laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Bunn to second. Bunn attempted to take third base on the play and a throwing error by Cedar allowed Bunn to gallop home for a 2-0 Buffalo lead.

Through three innings Holt was pitching perfect but he ran into a spot of trouble in the fourth. Jackson Carter drew a one-out walk for Cedar in the fourth and then quickly saw home plate after Orton tied the game with a home run blast to center.

Cedar wasn’t quite done when Jordan Jones got hit by the pitch and then later came around to score on a double smacked by Giddings to left to give the Redmen the 3-2 lead.

Tooele used their patience in the bottom half of the fourth to tie the game back up. Weishaupt, Logan Poyner and Thomas Allen drew consecutive walks to load the bases. The Buffs could only get one run across as Weishaupt scored on an error in the infield to knot the game at 3-3.

Cedar’s offense came alive in the final two innings. The Tooele defense helped the Redmen score their run in the sixth when Jones came around to score on a throwing error. Another throwing error in the seventh allowed another Cedar run as Kole Halladay scored on a wild throw to first to take a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

Tooele did threaten to forge a two-out rally when Burr and Holt each drew walks to give Tooele a runner in scoring position but an innocent pop out ended the threat for Tooele and saddled them with a loss in the opening game.

“I am proud of our guys for battling and they are showing improvement,” Medina said. “We just have to get a lot more experience out there.”

Carbon 12 — Tooele 2

Just like their game Friday morning against Cedar, Tooele started fast against Carbon but the Dinos put together a strong finish. After trailing 2-0, the Dinos scored 12 unanswered runs to beat Tooele 12-2 in five innings Saturday morning at Elks Field in St. George.

Tooele got the bat on the ball more against Carbon, totaling seven hits. The Buffaloes were led by the top of the order with Devin Park and Cory McKendrick each earning two singles each while they each touched the plate once. Clint Finkbiner did the most damage for Carbon and he went 3-for-4 with three singles and four RBIs in the game.

The first two hitters for Tooele, Park and McKendrick, started off the game right with back-to-back singles to get runners in scoring position. Spencer Bunn made the most of his RBI opportunity by blooping a single to left to plate Park for the first run. A Carbon throwing error to first allowed McKendrick to score for a Tooele 2-0 lead after a half inning.

Unfortunately for Tooele, Carbon came right back in the bottom half of the first. With Hayden Basinger and Beau Rich getting on base with a hit and a walk respectively, Finkbiner stepped up and belted a single down the third base line to knot the game at 2-2.

Neither team threatened in the second but Carbon put together a big run in the third inning. Carbon started off the inning with four consecutive base hits. Rich and Finkbiner each hit RBI singles to give the Dinos a 4-2 lead. Tooele errors accounted for the next two runs as Daniel Peczuh scored on a fielding error then Keny Seals raced home after a Tooele wild pitch to give Carbon a 6-2 lead after three innings.

Carbon capitalized on another wild pitch as Rich scored the Dinos’ seventh run in the fourth inning. Tooele did get a runner in scoring position when Park singled in the fifth. Holt also contributed a single in the inning but a ground out ended the threat for Tooele.

The Dinos put together an impressive inning in the fifth when Julian Tamllos and Rich had RBI doubles to get the scoring started to give Carbon a 9-2 lead.

The hits kept coming for Carbon as Corbin Cartwright and Finkbiner added RBI singles to make the score 11-2, only one run away from ending the game early.

A Tooele throwing error on a attempted double play plated Finkbiner for the 12th run which promptly ended the game with the Dinos winning 12-2.

Bear River 11 — Tooele 4

Tooele again started off the game fast with three runs in the first inning but Bear River battled back to score 11 runs in the final five innings to secure a 11-4 victory over Tooele at Flyer Field Friday afternoon.

Tooele will have home games on Friday and Saturday of this week. Friday, the Buffaloes will host Judge at 3:30 p.m. and then Saturday will host West at 11 a.m. at Dow James Park.

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com