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Viking rampage: Pleasant Grove baseball extends winning streak to 10 games

By Darnell Dickson - | Apr 9, 2025
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Pleasant Grove's Slater Schow (right) crosses first base while Anders Pearson makes the catch in a Region 3 baseball game on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. Schow was out on the play.
Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

Like many high school baseball teams in Utah, Pleasant Grove heads south during the cold winter months to play in tournaments.

Vikings coach Darrin Henry calls it, “chasing the sun.”

It was obviously time well spent: Pleasant Grove (11-1 overall, 2-0 Region 3) is the No. 1 RPI team in Class 6A and Tuesday’s 11-1 Region 3 victory against Skyridge in five innings was its tenth win in a row.

“We kind of go everywhere, and we chase the sun all winter,” Henry said. “We just find games to play. We went to Arizona, to Vegas and to St George a couple times. Everyone does it. We’re baseball junkies at Pleasant Grove and that’s who we’re always going to be. We just want to keep grinding.”

Nash Clement, the Vikings leadoff hitter, said the experience of playing winter ball brought the team closer together.

“Getting in all those games is awesome,” Clement said. “But this group of boys, we’ve never been closer. We loved going to these tournaments and spending time together in the same houses and same hotels. It’s been awesome for our team.”

Pleasant Grove beat Skyridge 6-2 on Tuesday to open Region 3 play and on Wednesday got off quickly, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning on two walks, two hit batsmen and a Skyridge error. The Vikings added three more runs in the third to take a 6-0 lead.

The Falcons managed a run in the bottom of the third to make it 6-1 but PG added three more runs in the fourth for a 9-1 advantage.

In the top of the fifth, Clement tripled to left and came home on Slater Schow’s single to make the score 10-1. Schow later came home on a fielder’s choice for an 11-1 lead.

PG finished things off in the bottom of the inning, getting a nice diving play at first base by C.J. Anderson for the final out via the 10-run rule.

Drew Smith was 2 for 3 and doubled for the Vikings with Clement also 2 for 3. Anderson was 2 for 4 with a double and catcher Brad Farrer drove in three runs.

Junior Mason Hawk Henry pitched five innings, allowing just two hits and one unearned run while striking out five.

“We’re an older team this year,” Coach Henry said. “Last year, we were getting all the experience with these same guys. We were hoping to really roll into this. We played a lot of winter ball so we could make sure that we had some good momentum.

“We’ve got a team that’s trying to win every inning, and they’re doing it the right way. We have a lot of leadership this year, with Drew Smith and and Carson (CJ) Anderson and some guys who are really coming through for us. And Keaton Nordick (4-1, 1.02 ERA, 32 strikeouts) has just been magic on the hill.”

Last season, Pleasant Grove was 14-13 overall and as the No. 11 seed lost to No. 6 Fremont in the Super Regionals. The Vikings finished as 6A runner-up in 2021 and last won a state championship in 2019.

“I mean, honestly, I’d say our brotherhood is special,” Clement said. “A lot of us, because we have a lot of seniors, we’ve all played together since we were nine years old. We all trust each other and then we’ve got a lot of talent, too. We’re just rolling, having fun. We think we can win state and we’re all confident that we can do it.”

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