Spanish Fork tastes sweet victory, wins Dugout title
March 31, 2011 by Don Ketchum, AZPreps365
By Don Ketchum
Spanish Fork, Utah enjoyed its first trip to the Big League Dugout National Invitational baseball tournament.
The Dons broke a 2-2 tie by scoring a run on a passed ball in the sixth inning and hung on for a 3-2 victory over Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, Nev., in Thursday night’s (March 31) championship game at Phoenix Horizon High.
Andy Perkins hit a one-out, opposite-field double to the left-field corner to start the rally against Bishop Gorman, ranked No. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps.
Perkins advanced to third on a groundout and scored on the passed ball.
Right-hander Matt Nelson pitched six strong innings before giving up a leadoff single in the seventh.
Nelson had kept Bishop Gorman off-balance with a mixture of fastballs and off-speed pitches.
On came closer Kayden Porter, who relies on more of a pure fastball. He gave up another hit, but escaped trouble with a fielder’s choice grounder, a strikeout and a second fielder’s choice grounder to end it.
Jim Nelson, in his 31st season as Spanish Fork coach, saw his team get an early 1-0 jump in the first inning when Hayden Nielsen led off the game with a single and scored on a double by Porter. The lead increased to 2-0 in the third when Perkins forced in a run with a bases-loaded walk.
Bishop Gorman, led by first-year coach Nick Day, tied it at 2 in the fifth on a run-scoring double by A.J. Van Meetren and a single by Tyler Baker.
Spanish Fork had advanced to the title game with a 10-4 victory over Regis Jesuit (Colo.) earlier on Thursday, and Bishop Gorman reached the finale with a 5-2 victory over Tempe Corona del Sol.
Corona del Sol captured third place with a 10-7 victory over Regis.
Thursday’s scores
Scottsdale Chaparral 9, Downers Grove South 4
Chandler Hamilton 14, Forsyth Country Day 1
La Jolla Country Day 3, Montclair Prep 2
Phoenix Horizon 6, Harvard-Westlake 4
Spanish Fork 3, Bishop Gorman 2
Spanish Fork 10, Regis Jesuit 4
Bishop Gorman 5, Tempe Corona del Sol 2
Corona del Sol 10, Regis Jesuit 7
*Special thanks to Horizon coach Eric Kibler for providing daily scores.
