High school baseball: Late offensive explosion seals the 3A state title for Union

The top-seeded Union Cougars claimed their second state title in three years with a late offensive explosion in Game 2 of the 3A championship series on Saturday.

Leading 2-0 heading into the seventh inning, the Cougars tacked on a stunning 12 runs in the top of the seventh to seal the deal against the Grantsville Cowboys.

While Union jumped out to a two-run lead in the first inning and its offense put the game out of reach late, it may not have mattered too much with senior Ryan Oakey on the mound.

Oakey pitched an absolute gem, a complete game shutout. He allowed just three hits against a Grantsville squad that came in averaging over 10 runs per game in the 3A playoffs and also struck out 11 Cowboy batters.

“I felt really dominant with my fastball,” Oakley said. “They couldn’t catch up to it, and then my curveball, they were fooled by it every time.

“I just felt like I could go back to either of those and they couldn’t touch it.”

Union head coach Matt Labrum said of his senior pitcher, “Ryan’s a stud. He’s unreal up there. He’s grown so much mentally this year, and obviously physically. We feel really good when he’s on the mound.”

Oakey was certainly helped out by his offense in the top of the seventh inning, when the Cougars brought 13 batters to the plate and ripped off 10 hits.

They had RBI at-bats from Bo Earl, Brennen Mecham, Stetson Wills, Davin Brotherson, Gannon Labrum, Gavin Wilkerson, Tyson Marx and Dylan Watahomigie.

Coach Labrum compared his two state titles, the previous coming in 2024, saying, “The first one we were the seventh seed, so nobody expected that. I didn’t feel any pressure.

“This year we were the one seed, and so we feel a lot more pressure. I’m so proud of our guys not worrying about that and coming out and being ready to play. These guys play together. They don’t care who gets the credit.”