The St George Sentinels American Legion Baseball team opened play June 13, 2014 at Pine View ballpark against the Salt Lake Gulls.  The Sentinels debut was a success, as they split the doubleheader with the club all-star team from northern Utah.

Full story can be found in the St George Spectrum using the following link http://www.thespectrum.com/story/sports/2014/06/14/american-legion-baseball-st-george/10514847/

After a great win Thursday night against Murray Legion on the first day of its road trip, the Sentinels returned to action Friday to play it's first 2 games  in the histroric Helper Legion tournament.  In their first game of the day, St George came out strong against Uintah by scoring 5 runs in the first inning.  Their bats stayed hot throughout the contest, smashing 14 hits and 13 runs in just 5 innings to win the game 13-4.  Austin Ruseler picked up the win on the mound, allowing only 3 hits in his 5 innings pitched.

In the 2:00 game, the Sentinels again started well, jumping out to a 2-0 lead after the first 2 innings of play.  But a costly error in the third inning led to a big inning for Herriman as they surged to a 5-2 lead.  St George did rally late in the game, and had the tying run at bat in the last inning.  However, the rally fell short and the Herriman Legion held on to win 6-3.  Josh Howard had a towering 400 ft homerun to center in the game and Tyler Johnston pitched 3 1/3 innings of strong relief.

St George plays two more tournament games tomorrow, at 11:45 against Idaho Falls and 2:15 against Price.

St George finished up the final day of it's road trip by winning both of its games today with some sparkling defense and timely hitting.  By defeating Idaho Falls 7-0 and Price 4-2, the Sentinels were able to win 4 of 5 games on the road this weekend and improve it's official record to 5-2 (excluding the two exhibition games it played and lost to Desert Hills earlier in the week).

In the first game against Idaho Falls, Cole Greene had an outstanding performance on the mound, hurling a shut-out while striking out 9.  The game was tight for most of the contest, with St George leading 2-0 going into the top of the 7th inning.  However , the Sentinels finally broke the game open, erupting for 5 runs in the inning as it brought 10 hitters to the plate.  The final score was 7-0.  Connor Clark had an excellent game at the plate, going 4-4 on four crisp singles.

In the second game, the Sentinels played the Price Legion team and defeated them by the narrow margin of 4-2.  Carter Milne got the victory on the mound, keeping the Price hitters off balance for 3 2/3 innings.  Clark came in relief with the score at 3-2 and held the Price team scoreless through the remainder of the game.  Cole Greene and Josh Howard both smacked doubles in the game.  Greene and Howard were also selected to the All-Tournament team for their excellent perfromances throughout the weekend.  A photo is found in the Photo Album tab of our website.

St George now returns home to host it's Summer Classic Tournament this coming week.  Action will be Thursday through Saturday at both Dixie State and Pineview ballparks.  The Sentinels will play Thursday at 6 pm at Pineview against Canyon View, Friday at 6 and 8:30 pm at Dixie State against Cyprus and Helper respectively, and Saturday at 5 pm against Highland, CA at Pineview ballpark.

St George started strong in its first day of tourney play Thursday.  The Sentinels played against Canyon View, winning 20-4.  In the bottom of the first, 14 hitters came to the plate as the Sentinels jumped out to 9-0 lead and never looked back.  Cole Greene had a solid outing on the mound and got the win.  Tyler Johnston, Logan Lafemina, Kash Walker, and Parker Leavitt were a combined 14-14 at the plate for the day, with Walker belting a home run.

The St George American Legion Sentinels had another great weekend on the road this last week.  Winning 4 and tying 1 (game was on strict time limit at SL Bees Ballpark), the St George Sentinels tied for the best record at the Logan 4^th of July Tournament this past weekend. 

The Sentinels had some impressive team play to bring its official record to 14-2-1 on the season.  In the first game against Olympus, Chris Petrosie pitched all 7 innings and had 6 strikeouts with only 1 walk to lead the way.  Tyler Johnston was 3-4 and had the game-tying RBI in the top of the 7^th inning, scoring Hunter Hansen who started the inning with a key pinch-hit.

Friday, St George played against the hometown Logan Grizzlies at 9 am.  Behind a strong pitching performance that yielded only 2 earned runs and 3 hits by Austin Ruseler, the Sentinels defeated Logan 7-2.  Kash Walker was 2-4 with a double, Howard was 2-3 with 2 RBI, Hansen was 2-3 with a double and Brenr Nelson was 3-4 and solid behind the plate throughout. 

In the nightcap, St George played an Independence Day classic at Ken Price ballpark against the host Murray Spartans.  The Sentinels, after roaring to a 5-0 lead after 3 innings, held off a late-inning comeback by Murray to get the victory 5-4.  Cole Greene was the winning pitcher, allowing only 1 hit in his first 4 innings before tiring in the 5^th.  Fortunately, Tyler Johnston and finally Josh Howard providing strong relief performances on the mound to seal the victory 5-4.  Hansen was again 2-3 and Josh Howard was 2-4 in the contest. 

On Saturday, a tired Sentinels team played a doubleheader at 9 and 11:30 am.  In the first game, the Carter Milne went the distance against Bear River, giving up only 2 earned runs and getting 6 strike-outs to lead the Sentinels to a 7-4 victory.  In the second game, the Sentinels played Walla Walla Washington and won 14-10 in a high-scoring affair.   Despite falling behind 3-0 in the first inning after a dropped fly ball allowed 2 runs to score, the Sentinels roared right back and led 13-5 after 3 innings. 

Nevertheless, the excellent hitting Washington team never gave up, hitting the ball hard throughout the contest as they tried to keep up with the Sentinels.  But the St George bats proved mightier, prevaling with 16 hits and 13 RBI in the contest.  All St George hitters reached base at least one during the game, with Tanner Wilde going 3-3 on the day with 2 triples, 1 double and 4 RBI.  Connor Clark picked up the win on the mound.  For the day, Tyler Johnston was 5-6 at the plate with 3 runs scored and 3RBI, Logan Lafemina was 4-8 with 2 doubles, Brenr Nelson was 4-5 with 3 RBI, and Chris Petrosie was 3-5 with 2 RBI.    

St George, finishing the season with a 10-1-1 legion record and 19-6-1 overall, began state tournament play today in Logan, UT.  The Sentinels opened againt the Northridge Knights, winners of their last five games to qualify for the tourney.  Both teams battled in the hot and humid conditions of the 4:00 game.  But, Chris Petrosie was brilliant on the mound.  Allowing only 3 hits and striking out 10 Northridge hitters to lead the way for the Sentinels 3-0 shut-out win.   Josh Howard had a big game at the plate, going 3-3, including a homerun and 2 RBIs to provide the offensive power needed to get the victory. Connor Clark also had a double in the game.

The first game win led to an evening match-up against Cyprus, the top seed from the Salt Lake Valley league who had earned a bye for the first games of teh tourney.  But in this contest, the St George hitters were unstoppable.  Facing Cyprus' ace, the Sentinels erupted for 6 runs in the first inning, four of them coming off a grand slam from Josh Howard after the first 3 hitters had all singled to load the bases.  It was 7-0 going into the third, when Cyprus replaced their starting pitcher and the Sentinels responded with another tremendous rally.  This time nine runners crossed the plate, highlighted by Tanner Wilde's grand slam home-run. 

In addition to the big homeruns by Howard and Wilde, other top performers at the plate for the Cyprus game included Tyler Johnston, going 3-3  at the plate with 2 RBI, Logan Lafemina who was 2-3 and scored twice, Hunter Hansen, who was 2-2 with a double of the wall and who scored 3 times, and Brenr Nelson who was 2-4 with a double (and who caught both games.

St George next faces Helper Legion on Monday at 8 pm.