After falling to Green River 7-6 in the first of two games Friday in Green River, Dugway came back to win the second game 9-3 and earn a tie for the Region 18 championship.

Both teams entered the doubleheader tied with undefeated records, and it stayed that way after they faced each other for the first time this year and came away with a split.

The Mustangs won a coin flip after the game and will enter the state tourney as the No. 1 seed from the region. Dugway will face West Ridge Academy Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. in Spanish Fork in the 1A quarterfinals. Green River will battle Panguitch.

Dugway coach Jaren Wadsworth said his team was looking to sweep Green River and earn the region title outright instead of having to share it with the Pirates.

“I was dissapointed getting beat by one run in that first game,” the coach said. “Getting beat by one run is worse than getting beat by 20 because you know you were right there to win the game. We’re a much better team than we showed today. We’re in the state games now and we want to finish strong.”

The coach told his seniors that now is the time to show what they can do on the field. “For the seniors it’s their last chance to show their stuff,” he said.

In the first game, both teams scored runs thanks to good hitting and a bit of sloppy fielding. Dugway led 4-3 after one inning with Zack James on the mound. After three complete innings the Pirates were out in front 5-4 and Morgan Kartchner came on in relief of James.

Green River’s Jason Johnson ripped a double to start the fourth and moved to third on a sacrifice by Tyson Johnson. But Kartchner then fanned Eilisa Polito and got Josh Downard to fly out to right to stymie the Pirates.

Dugway took the lead in the top of the fifth with two runs. Garrett Hensley drilled a shot to the left-center gap for a triple to start the fifth and later came home on an RBI by Dakota Woolett to tie the game. Woolett then scored the go-ahead run when sophomore Jake Palmer tagged a drive to right-center.

Green River came back to tie the game at 6-6 after five complete innings when Brennan Bigelow singled to bring in Hayden Pfander.

In addition to Hensley’s triple, Woolett also pounded a double for Dugway’s two extra-base hits in the game.

With the score tied going into the bottom of the seventh, Dugway miscues helped Green River prevail. Josh Downard singled to start the inning, and then advanced by stealing two basses to reach third. He then came home with the winning run on an Dugway infield overthrow to first on a ground ball.

Dugway 9, Green River 3

The Mustang hitters were hot in the second game which was only a scheduled five-inning game. Dugway pounded out eight hits including a double by Jeremiah Kolb. Kartchner worked five complete innings on the mound to pick up the victory allowing only one earned run. Dugway committed three errors and Green River had four miscues in the second contest.

“Morgan pitched a great game and basically saved us in that second game,” Wadsworth said.

Down 1-0 after the first inning, Dugway scored three in the second and four more in the third to jump out to a 7-3 after three innings.

Woolett opened the second with a single, stole second and later scored on single by Kyle Sipsas. Steven Delgado walked and with two outs Kolb singled to right to score Sipsas and Delgado.

In the third inning Kartchner walked, Woolett singled, Palmer was hit by a pitch and Sipsas smacked a hit up the middle to score Katchner and Woolett. James later singled home Adam Mason who was running for Palmer.

Dugway then added a pair of runs in the fifth to make it a 9-3 final. Kolb singled to start the inning and advanced to third with a steal and wild pitch. Hensley reached on an error and then both runners scored thanks to errors and a single by Woolett.

Mark Watson: mwatson@tooeletranscript.com