High school baseball: Spanish Fork captures 5A title in back-and-forth championship series

Box score, Game 2

Box score, Game 3

Spanish Fork won the 5A baseball championship on Saturday, capitalizing on their Game 1 victory from Friday. Maple Mountain responded in Game 2, picking up a 10-5 win in which they controlled throughout, but the Dons responded in Game 3 with a 14-3 victory to clinch the championship.

It is Spanish Fork’s eighth baseball title. Legendary coach Jim Nelson led them to six titles during his 27 years as coach and then the Dons picked up another in 2015 before Saturday.

However, this might have been the toughest to get. Last year was cancelled due to the pandemic and a new state tournament was unleashed.

On top of that, Spanish Fork hit some speed bumps throughout the season as they started just 1-5 in region play, getting swept by Maple Mountain and Salem Hills while drawing a split with Wasatch. They would rebound and win their last eight games of the regular season, but it still left them as a seventh seed matched up against a tough Murray team in the third round. The Mighty Dons even dropped their first game to the Spartans but rallied the next day to pick up the series win in three games and move on to SLCC.

This week they went 5-1 as they picked up the state title, and all five wins came against teams that they had fallen short against just two months ago as they eliminated region rivals Salem Hills and Maple Mountain in the final two rounds.

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“We are a bunch of dudes who want to fight for each other,” said Zac Dart, Spanish Fork’s starting pitcher in Game 3. “We were down in the dumps, we struggled in the beginning of region, but we were able to come back and beat those teams in the end.”

Dart played a huge role in that. After grabbing two key hits in Game 1, he pitched a complete game, striking out four while allowing just three runs. He also pitched himself out of some key jams that kept the momentum on the Dons side. On offense, he kept up his hot streak at the plate. He went 2 for 3 and brought in three runs, including a two-run long ball in the third inning that produced a 6-0 lead.

Spanish Fork’s offense struggled in Game 2, scoring five runs on eight hits, but a lot of that was in an attempt to comeback from an eight-run deficit. The Golden Eagles had jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first inning that expanded to 8-2 after two.

“Whenever you win a championship, there is always a tight knit group of guys. The guys stay after practice to continue working. It starts with summer ball and then into fall ball and that is what it takes to win a state championship and that is what these guys did.” — Spanish Fork coach Casey Nelson

They rebounded in Game 3. Scoring 14 runs on 19 hits, seven of the nine starters recorded at least two hits and an RBI. Maple Mountain desperately tried to hang around–utilizing four different pitchers from a staff that was playing their eighth game in just six days — but couldn’t quite muster the offensive firepower they had earlier in the day to keep pace with Spanish Fork.

Brody Duvall finished with three hits, finishing just a home run shy of the cycle as he brought in two runs and scored two of his own. A walk in the first inning, a double in the third and then a two-out single to set up Dart’s home run in the fourth all were vital in the quick start.

Asked what he wanted to remember about winning a state championship, Duvall said, “Work hard. Work hard and things will work out.”

After Maple Mountain scored in the bottom of the sixth to avoid mercy rule, Spanish Fork added two more runs in the seventh. Eventually the Golden Eagles got down to their last out. A crack of the bat sent a fly ball out to right field, senior Blair Nielson got under it and became a champion.

Coach Casey Nelson was asked about that moment. “Go dog pile with the guys, it is something we practice at the first of the year is dog piling. It doesn’t come to fruition all the time but it did here,” he said.

Spanish Fork had a dozen key rotation players that rotated and contributed when called upon. Each played a role in winning the title and had their key play to get there.

“Whenever you win a championship, there is always a tight knit group of guys. The guys stay after practice to continue working,” said Nelson. “It starts with summer ball and then into fall ball and that is what it takes to win a state championship and that is what these guys did.”