There is nothing like an elimination game in the Utah American Legion State Tournament, especially when you are facing a cross-valley rival. Tooele and Grantsville were pitted against each other Tuesday afternoon and it was a wild back-and-forth affair.

Grantsville held an 8-7 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh and it appeared the Cowboys might escape with a win. But a huge error with two outs on a routine grounder helped Tooele tie the game then a bases loaded walk to Chase Banks sealed the 9-8 victory for Tooele. It wasn’t the prettiest win for Tooele but they did enough to eliminate the Cowboys and play for another day.

After getting past Grantsville, Tooele moved on to play another wild game against Granger Wednesday night. It even took extra innings but Matt Gochis came through in the eighth with an RBI single that clinched the 7-6 victory over the Lancers.

Tooele 9 — Grantsville 8

Whether Tooele and Grantsville meet in a regular season high school game, a legion practice game or the Legion state tournament, it always turns out being a riveting game. Their meeting Tuesday afternoon at Oquirrh Park in Kearns was no different.

The lead went back and forth between the Cowboys and Buffaloes but in the end Tooele managed to pull ahead in the final inning for a 9-8 victory. Matt Gochis was a big offensive weapon for Tooele by nailing three singles from the leadoff position and scoring two runs. Colton Barkdull, Connor Crowell and Chase Banks each had two hits to help Tooele in the winning effort.

Tyson Hutchins, Lincoln Kelley and Bridger Boman each had two hits for the Cowboys in the losing effort.

Pitching dominated during the first inning and the top of the second as Grantsville was shut down in their first two innings. Tooele struck first in the bottom of the second when Crowell and Banks led off the inning with singles. After Matt Cuellar was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Austin Hansen stroked a liner down the third base line to push two Tooele runs across.

Tooele earned an additional run when Gochis nailed a chopping grounder to the right side of the infield for a 3-0 Tooele lead. Grantsville didn’t take long to respond in the top of the third.

Kelby Fisher led off the inning by drawing a walk but after two consecutive strikeouts it didn’t look like Grantsville would take advantage. Hutchins had other plans and came up with two outs and ripped a single right back up the middle to give Grantsville their first run. Hutchins later scored on a wild pitch to make the score 3-2.

The inning got a little strange after that as two consecutive Cowboys struck out but were able to reach first after the pitch hit the ground, Ryley Boman even scored on one strikeout to tie the score at 3-3.

Tooele helped out Grantsville in the inning by throwing wildly to first on a pick off play that allowed Andrew Nelson to score from third. Then a chopping grounder hit by Kelley scored Jake Campbell to make the score 5-3. In the bizarre inning, Grantsville picked up five runs while striking out five times in the inning.

Tooele did get back a run in the bottom half after Crowell tripled he was allowed to score on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 5-4. It was the fourth where the momentum shifted back to Tooele’s favor.

Christian Pitts and Gochis led off the inning with walks and Taylor Hunt hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Pitts from third. With Gochis on third, Crowell hit a towering fly ball to center that appeared to be caught but the ball escaped the glove and hit the ground as the umpire ruled it a no catch as Gochis scored to make the score 6-5 in Tooele’s favor. Grantsville head coach Loren Anderson argued the call to no avail and was promptly ejected.

Banks took advantage of his at bat in the fourth by poking a single to right-center to score Crowell to extend the advantage 7-5.

Trailing by two runs after four innings, Grantsville mounted a rally in the fifth. Taylor Matthews led off the inning by reaching on an error then Kelley was plunked by a pitch. Derek Jensen later loaded the bases with a single.

With the bases juiced, No. 9 hitter Bridger Boman belted a single to left-center to tie the game at 7-7. Ryley Boman broke the tie with a grounder that was not fielded properly as the Cowboys took an 8-7 lead.

The sixth inning turned into missed opportunities for both teams. Grantsville had a run taken away for not tagging up properly then Tooele loaded the bases with no outs and couldn’t get a run across, keeping the score at an 8-7 Grantsville advantage.

The score stayed the same until the bottom of the seventh. With Gochis on base after a single and Barkdull on by a fielder’s choice, Tooele had a pressure situation with two on and two outs. Hunt hit a routine grounder that found its way through the infield to tie the game at 8-8.

With the game tied, Grantsville decided to walk Crowell and take their chances with Banks with the bases loaded. Banks never got a chance to use his bat however, as he watched four pitches for the bases-loaded walk to end the game.

Tooele 7 — Granger 6

The Tooele Legion players are quickly becoming experts in winning close games. After coming back for a tough win against Grantsville, the Buffaloes did it again against Granger.

Tooele came up clutch in the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh Taylor Hunt drove in the game-tying run then Matt Gochis supplied the go-ahead run, which held up to be the game winner.

Colton Barkdull proved to be a very tough out, going 4-for-5 with a pair of singles, a double and a triple. In fact, Barkdull was only a home run away from hitting from the cycle. Gochis also had a pair of singles and double in the contest where Tooele out-hit Granger 13 to 4.

The game didn’t start off so well for Tooele in the bottom of the first after being shutout in the top half. The good news for Tooele is that Granger didn’t even earn a hit in the first but the bad news is that they managed to earn a couple runs.

Errors like the dropping of a Troy Picker pop out scored Granger’s first run then the Lancer’s Jordan Ujhely forced across a run by drawing a walk with the bases loaded for the early 2-0 lead for Granger.

Tooele did manage to chip away at the Granger lead in the third when Matt Cuellar led off the inning with a double. Two batters later and with Cuellar on third, Barkdull roped the ball through the left side of the infield to cut the Lancer lead to 2-1.

Momentum quickly shifted in Tooele’s favor in the top of the fifth thanks to a couple big hits. Barkdull again was driving in runs, this time with a double down the left field line that plated Gochis from second to tie the game.

A wild Granger throw on a Hunt grounder brought in another run but Connor Crowell really made the Lancers pay for their mistakes. Crowell followed the error with a towering home run to left which gave Tooele a 5-2 advantage and the momentum.

Granger however, didn’t waste any time cutting away at the lead. Evan Stucki took care of the runs for the Lancers in the fifth with a double that split the right-center gap to make the score 5-4 but they had enough in them to take over the lead again in the sixth.

Trent Breeze slapped a double down the left field line to tie the game then patience again paid off for Granger as Stucki was able to draw a bases loaded walk to give the Lancers the 6-5 lead.

Staring down a one-run deficit heading into the seventh, Tooele went to work right away. Barkdull didn’t waste any time in belting a triple to lead off the inning then Hunt followed with an screaming come-backer to the pitcher that ricocheted off Clint Felion’s leg on the mound just enough for Tooele to tie the game at 6-6.

Hunt not only drove in the run in the top of the seventh but pitched well enough on the mound to force extra innings.

In the extra frame, Steven Witkowski took his first at bat of the game and lined a single to center to start things off for Tooele. With Witkowski on second, Gochis came up big by pushing a single to right-center for the go-ahead run. The Gochis RBI proved to be enough as Hunt closed the door on Granger for Tooele to continue playing.

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com