The Payson Lions will venture away from home to face off against the Juab Wasps at 3:30 p.m. on Monday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Payson is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They blew past Ogden 18-9 on Friday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Lions.
Maddux DeGraffenried made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out six batters over 2.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and not a single walk). He also tossed no walks, which is notable because Payson is 3-1 when he allows at most one walk, but 4-12 otherwise. DeGraffenried was also big at the plate, getting on base in four of his five plate appearances with four RBI and one run. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in March of 2024.
Cole Neves
| 04/18/25 @ Ogden | 3 |
| 04/14/25 vs American Leadership Academy | 2 |
| 04/11/25 @ Uintah | 1 |
| 04/11/25 @ Uintah | 1 |
| 04/02/25 @ Mountain View | 1 |
In other batting news, Cole Neves was incredible, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with three RBI, two runs, and one double. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high. Blane Christensen was another key player, going 1-for-3 with three runs, one stolen base, and one RBI.
Meanwhile, Juab came tearing into Wednesday's contest with 11 straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 4.5 runs), and they left with even more momentum. Their pitcher stepped up to hand the Wildcats a 10-0 shutout. The Wasps might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won seven matches by six runs or more this season.
Not much got past Austin Park, who gave up just a hit and racked up nine Ks to keep Richfield off the board. Park has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive appearances.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Connor Cowan, who went 3-for-4 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI. Hayden Adams also deserves some recognition as he brought in his first RBI of the season.
Juab was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .400. That's the best batting average they've posted all season.
Juab pushed their record up to 14-3 with the win, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.4 runs on average over those games. As for Payson, their record now sits at 7-13.
Payson might still be hurting after the 12-1 loss they got from Juab in their previous meeting back in May of 2023. Can the Lions avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
