Rocky Mtn ace gave up 5 runs. Then he started ‘crazy’ rally to lead team to state finals
Friday didn’t start the way Rocky Mountain pitcher Peyton Hines planned. But he’ll take the ending.
The junior surrendered five runs early and was yanked off the mound in a 5A baseball state semifinal against Timberline. But the cleanup hitter led the comeback at the plate as Rocky Mountain erupted for a 12-8 victory at Wolfe Field in Caldwell.
Hines ripped a two-run double into the right-center field gap in the bottom of the fifth inning, kick-starting a 12-run inning for the No. 2-ranked Grizzlies (22-6). All 12 runs came with two outs.
“I had to come back and find a way to help my team win,” Hines said. “I can’t just pout because of the five runs that happened. I had to find a way to help the team out.”
That response wasn’t guaranteed. Hines entered as one of the Grizzlies’ aces, with a 5-1 record and a 1.24 ERA. Rocky Mountain confidently handed him the ball with a spot in the state championship on the line.
Five Timberline runs in the fourth (all unearned) changed the script. Rocky Mountain coach Stephan Zanoni credited the Grizzlies with keeping Hines’ head in the game when he stepped off the mound tagged with a 5-0 deficit.
Zanoni pulled him aside as he stood on deck in the fifth inning, promising that if he could bounce back at the plate it would inspire the rest of the Rocky Mountain lineup. Hines delivered, and the Grizzlies followed suit, sending 16 batters to the plate in the inning.
“Peyton here has grown so much,” Rocky Mountain senior first baseman Derek Schumacher said. “When I used to know him when he was little, he’d pout, sit in the dugout and almost start crying. For him to come out and hit that double and get us going, that was crazy.”
Hines doubled twice in the inning, but he wasn’t alone. Kaden Menard also ripped a two-run double, and Braden Lewis had a two-run single as the Grizzlies went around and around the bases.
That stood as a welcome surprise after Rocky Mountain entered the state tournament on a 17-inning scoreless streak and mustered only seven hits in last week’s district championship series.
“We are very dangerous,” Hines said. “When we start going, we keep going,”
The outburst sends Rocky Mountain back to the 5A championship game for the first time since 2017. It will face No. 5 Owyhee (19-9) at 5 p.m. Saturday at Wolfe Field in Caldwell for a chance at the third title in program history.
The two Southern Idaho Conference teams have met just once this season, with Rocky Mountain taking a 7-6 victory in 11 innings.
“It was a dogfight then,” Zanoni said. “I expect a dogfight tomorrow.”
This story was originally published May 20, 2022 at 11:44 PM.
