The Scenic West Conference Tournament couldn't have gone any better for the Dixie State baseball team.
Dixie State received three excellent pitching performances and finished a dominant effort with a 9-1 win over Southern Idaho in the finals on Saturday at John L. Harvey Field. The Rebels went 3-0 in the tournament and it looked like they hardly broke a sweat.
The Rebels, a national power who will move up to Division II next year, will host the district tournament next week for the right to go to the College World Series.
Colt Adams pitched a complete game for Dixie on Saturday. His performance came on the heels of a complete-game shutout from Chris Reap in a 4-0 win over Western Nevada Community College on Friday. Chad Povich also gave Dixie an excellent effort in an 11-1 win over Southern Idaho on Thursday.
It may be hard to believe after the Rebels outscored the other top two teams in the league 24-2 in the tournament, but Dixie coach Mike Littlewood said the difference was really attitude, not talent.
"We're playing with a lot of confidence," Littlewood said. "That's the No. 1 thing. Talent-wise, our teams aren't very far apart. It's nice to have tradition on your side."
Todd Privett, working on two days rest and battling food poisoning, started for Southern Idaho and was able to give the Golden Eagles two scoreless innings. He gave way to his brother, Zak Privett in the third inning.
Dixie touched Privett for two runs when Albert Jones singled, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Braden Wells' single. Alex Wolfe followed with an RBI double to make it 2-0.
Privett didn't run into trouble again untile the sixth when Tim Mott singled and scored on Cooper Blanc's triple. Wells followed with an RBI single and Jones finished the rally with a two-run home run to make it 6-0.
Adams' only stress inning was the eighth when Southern Idaho loaded the bases with no outs. But Adams induced a double play to help stop the threat, forcing the Golden Eagles to settle for one run.
"We got three great pitching performances," Littlewood said. "We got to save our pen a little bit."
James Wallace actually struck out seven over the last two innings for Southern Idaho, but a passed ball on one of the strikeouts led to three unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth and a 9-1 Dixie lead. Chad Murray had a two-run double during the rally.
The Privetts, Tim Mealer and Wallace combined to strike out 15, but also gave up 13 hits.
Dixie dealt with disciplinary problems early in the year, but came on strong in the second half of the season. "We knew we had a championship-caliber team," Littlewood said.
Tournament notes: WNCC third baseman Tyson Jaquez made the all-conference first team after all. He was placed on the first team after being originally left off and put on the second team. Jaquez also made the all-tournament team along with his teammate, catcher Taylor Meiras. The rest of the all-tournament team was: Pitchers - Reap and Todd Privett; infielders - Eastern Utah's Ryan Whitehead, Southern Idaho's Mike Griffin, Wolfe; outfielders - Dixie's Bobby Leigh, Wells and Blanc; designated hitter - Southern Idaho's Ken Fuglerud... This is the third straight year that Dixie has won the postseason tournament after finishing the regular season in second.