In their first ever baseball playoff appearance, Stansbury used the long ball and a gigantic seven-run fifth inning to pull off a 13-7 victory in the first round of the 4A state playoffs against Lehi on their home field Tuesday afternoon.

Lehi even held a three-run lead at two different times in the game but Stansbury never gave in thanks to three big hits in the fifth inning. A home run by Clint Peterson, a single by Beau Leyva and a double by Jake Witkowski all netted two RBIs in the fifth to help the Stallions take control of the momentum.

Colton Barkdull had the best day at the plate for Stansbury by going a perfect 4-for-4 with a pair of singles, a double and a home run. It wasn’t only Barkdull pestering the Lehi pitching, Witkowski and Brennan Walker each earned two hits against the Pioneers.

“That is definitely our best offensive output all year,” said Stansbury coach Ray Clinton. “Lehi didn’t seem to throw a lot of off-speed pitches so we were able to lock in on the fast ball.”

Taylor Hunt shook off a rough opening inning and battled to strike out 12 Lehi batters to earn the victory.

After escaping a jam in the first inning, Lehi cracked out the bats in the bottom half. TJ Russon and Palmer Page started off the inning with consecutive singles then Bronson Anderson followed with an RBI single to left-center. A Stansbury overthrow after the Anderson hit allowed Page to score for a 2-0 lead.

The Pioneers picked up a third run after an error on a steal attempt by Remi Worthen to second that allowed Anderson to score from third for a 3-0 lead.

Stansbury took advantage of a Lehi fielding error as Leyva reached base on the blunder and eventually scored on a wild pitch to cut the Pioneer lead to 3-1.

Looking to chip away more at the Lehi lead in the third, Christian Pitts led off the inning right when he got beaned for the second time in a row. Barkdull followed with a double to get both runners in scoring position then Peterson grounded out to second to get within one run, 3-2.

With two outs in the fourth and Lehi clinging to a one run lead, the Pioneers started a rally. Russon started it with a double then Page followed with a towering home run to right to push Lehi to a 5-2 lead.

Trailing by three runs didn’t deter the Stallions as they came out strong in the fifth. Witkowski started it all by drawing a walk and later coming around to score on a wild pitch for the third run. Peterson came up with one out and pulled a home run to left that tied the game 5-5.

Tying the game wasn’t enough for Stansbury as they continued to fill the bases with runners as Hunt singled and Cody Young doubled. With runners in scoring position, Leyva poked a single back up the middle for the Stallion’s first lead of the game at 7-5.

A single from Walker kept the fifth alive which was more runners for Witkowski to knock in with his double that lined through the left side of the infield to make the score 9-5.

The Stansbury bats caught fire in the fifth and even a new pitcher from Lehi couldn’t stop the bleeding in the sixth. The first batter that Russon faced for Lehi was Barkdull and he promptly ripped a solo home run to center for a 10-5 lead.

While Hunt was cruising on the mound in the fifth and sixth, the offense just kept on rolling. Looking for more cushion than their five-run lead, the Stallions got a one-out double from Walker. After a Matt Cuellar walk, Witkowski popped a home run to left-center for a 13-5 lead. It was Witkowski’s fifth RBI in the game and the third home run for the Stallions.

Lehi showed patience in the seventh by drawing three consecutive walks to load the bases. Justin Higgins knocked in a run with a single to right and Dakota Longman forced across another with a fielders choice to cut the Stallion lead to 13-7, but that would be as close as it got for Lehi as Stansbury seal the victory.

“I think they were excited about that,” Clinton said about Stansbury winning their first playoff game ever. “We had won six of our last eight coming into playoffs also.”

Stansbury will now move on to play at Spanish Fork against the Dons today at 4 p.m.

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com