MURRAY -- Arguably the best team in the state is hitting well and playing more relaxed and, if it continues, the rest of the teams in the 4A state baseball tournament could be in trouble.
Spanish Fork knocked around Fremont pitching for five innings in an 11-1 victory in the third round of the tournament at Ken Price Field."We played so well for so long and got so many accolades, when we lost last week, we were able to relax," Spanish Fork coach Jim Nelson said.
After getting their only baserunner thrown out in the top half of the first, the Silver Wolves got the Dons' first two batters to ground out. But it was all downhill from there.
Canyon Vance started the barrage with the two-out double to right field. Vance scored on Casey Cloward's single to right to record Spanish Fork's first run. After a Brad Nance base hit, senior second baseman Riley Binks belted a bases-clearing triple to run the Dons' lead to 3-0.
Scott Harrison and Beau Giles also hit RBI singles to cap off a six-run first inning that virtually iced the game.
"We came out swinging the bats," Nelson said."Last week, they kind of went to sleep on us. That's the way this silly game goes."
While the first inning proved the Dons could manufacture runs, the second inning proved Spanish Fork could play long ball with the best of them. Vance nailed a two-run home run that barely got over the left-field wall. No sooner the next batter, Cloward, stepped up, no sooner the next homer was hit. Cloward went deep over the center-field wall to put the Dons up 9-0.
After the back-to-back shots, the Fremont coach replaced starter Zack Smith with Jake Jensen.
Things began to look up when Fremont's Brock McCormick led off the third inning with a double to the left-field gap. The junior left fielder crossed the plate for the Wolves' first run as Mark Hansen hit a sacrifice. But that would be all Fremont would get in the inning as Chad Cardon grounded out to third to end the inning.
Then the Dons went right back to work as Giles led off the bottom half of the third with a double. Brandon Dart followed up with a two-run shot to give Spanish Fork the final 11-1 margin.
Lost amidst the Spanish Fork batter's onslaught was the dominant performance by Dons' pitcher Bryce Searle. The Academic All-State pick pitched five innings, gave up one run, struck out seven and barely broke a sweat as he faced only 18 batters. The senior struggled early in the season as he suffered an arm injury but has pitched excellently in his last few games.
Spanish Fork was to take on Bountiful Tuesday at 11 a.m.
In other 4A tournament action:
PLEASANT GROVE 8, BOX ELDER 2: Josh Brady struck out 10 and Chance Scott hit two doubles as the Vikings defeated the Bees. Scott McDermeit went deep for Box Elder.
OLYMPUS 10, LONE PEAK 8: Junior Clint Sorenson hit a home run and a double as the Titans beat the Knights in a slugfest. Scott Koffman also went yard for Olympus, and Reno Mendenhall homered for Lone Peak.
BOUNTIFUL 7, WEBER 1: Matt Gleason struck out 10 and silenced the Warriors heavy hitters. Brady Bahr and Cory Hunter homered for Bountiful while Zachary Stillwell hit a solo dinger.
5A TOURNAMENT
BRIGHTON 7, LAYTON 5: Sean Mawhinney came in and made a huge save for the Bengals in the seventh inning as he pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation to give Brighton the win. Brett Sato touched home plate three times, and Matt Nordhoff and Mitch Evers each had two RBIs to lead the Bengals' offense Monday at Lindquist Field.
HILLCREST 13, COPPER HILLS 4: Jake Jordison threw a four-hitter while also going 2-for-4 from the plate to give the Huskies a shot in the arm on offense and defense. Gary Larson added a home run and Chad Rasmussen had two doubles for Hillcrest.
ALTA 8, HUNTER 1: Cole Dumas racked up some big stats to lift the Hawks to the victory. He tripled, doubled twice, scored three times and knocked in two RBIs for Alta. Joel Bogucki also had a good game from the plate for the Hawks, hammering home three RBIs.
DAVIS 5, NORTHRIDGE 1: Jeff Tibbs gave up just one hit in six innings while striking out seven Northridge batters as the Darts downed the Knights. Nate Groll gave Davis all the offense it needed, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs and a pair of doubles.