Chad Vautherine is a Master’s student at ASU Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover Red Mountain High School for AZPreps365.com

MESA - Red Mountain forced the 10-run rule for the second time this week as the Mountain Lions defeated the Skyline Coyotes 10-0, playing just five innings of baseball in Thursday’s home victory.

A five-run offensive explosion in the fourth inning and a 58-pitch complete game shutout from Red Mountain junior Payton Pudenz put Skyline’s withered roster of just 11 players in an untenable position versus the reigning 6A East Valley champs.

The Mountain Lions plated two runs in the bottom of the first. With runners on the corners, senior TJ Adams scored Red Mountain’s first run when Skyline's catcher threw down to second in an attempt to keep senior Skylar Edmonds from swiping the bag. In the same at-bat, senior Ryan Villani drove in Edmonds with an RBI single to left, extending the Lion lead to 2-0.

The Red Mountain bats shut off in the second and third innings, but Pudenz, who was backed by a perfect performance from his defense, was lights out on the mound. “You never expect an error with our defense,” Pudenz said. “I can just throw the ball down the middle and know that they’ll make the play.”

Pudenz, who threw a total of 12 balls out of the zone, struck out seven while allowing three hits and walking no one. 

Skyline junior Hayden Rasmussen, one of the team’s only available pitching options, kept the Coyotes in the game until the bottom half of the fourth. That's when the Mountain Lions ripped through him, putting up a five-spot over a span of 31 minutes in the half-inning. 

Senior Brayden Grantham hustled home on a throwing error to third by Skyline left fielder Zach Ortega to score the first of the five runs in the fourth. Fred Bohn pushed an RBI double into the right-center gap that was followed by a sacrifice fly from Adams, making it a 5-0 game. Later in the inning, Edmonds clubbed a two-run single into center to stretch the lead to 7-0, which then closed the books on the night for the Skyline starter.

The lengthy hurler, Rasmussen, threw a total of 98 pitches, giving up seven hits, seven walks, and seven earned runs through his three and two-thirds innings on the bump. Red Mountain coach Rob Gorrell discussed the advantage his team had against a Skyline squad, when on defense, had more coaches than players sitting in the dugout.

“We’ve got 25 guys on the bench and they’ve got (a total of) 10,” Gorrell said. “They do a really good job over there for what they have. They play hard and they scrap.”

 

 

In the bottom of the fifth with two outs and the bases loaded, Red Mountain was exactly three runs away from placing the 10-run rule after five. Senior Landry Spitler ended the game early in “walk-off” fashion by slicing a three-run triple into right-center, giving the Mountain Lions their seventh conference win this season.

“I actually was not aware of it. I thought it was 12 after five,” Spitler said. “I had no clue, and then everybody started running out to me.”

Spitler, who finished the night two for three with a walk and three RBI, was joined by senior Jared Crumpler in having Red Mountain’s other multi-hit game. The Lions scored all 10 runs on just eight hits. Skyline’s Ryan Mioni, Kenyon Johnson, and Easton Leon accounted for their team's only hits on Thursday.

Red Mountain (7-3, 4-1) will hit the field again on Friday at Westwood (6-6, 2-3) at 3:45 p.m. Skyline (3-9, 1-4) will host Trevor G. Browne (6-4, 3-3) on Tuesday, April 12 in Mesa.