5A high school baseball: Spanish Fork in prime position

OREM — To say there was pressure on Spanish Fork entering the seventh inning on Thursday evening at Utah Valley University may be an understatement.

The Dons came into the 5A state baseball tournament as the favorites, but they were in danger of falling to the elimination side of the bracket, trailing Alta after six innings in the winner's bracket final. But as a championship team needs to do, the Dons stepped up when the pressure was greatest. They rallied for seven runs in the top of the seventh to post a 10-4 win to advance to today's championship game.

"That is why you play baseball," said the winning pitcher, senior Brock Duke. "You live for moments like that. We said to each other before the inning, 'this is our time. It's our time to show what we can do.' "

What the Dons did was bring 14 players to the plate to score the seven runs. Trevor Randolph had the biggest hit as his two-run single put the team in the lead for good. Taggart Lunceford had an RBI single before Duke basically ended the suspense by blasting a three-run homer.

"I was looking for a strike," he said. "I got one and knew the moment it made contact it was gone. It was just one of those swings you could tell the instant it hit the bat."

The Hawks took the early lead as they proved they could hit the ball against anyone, even one of the state's best pitchers in Duke.

"That is as hard as anyone hit against me all year, maybe even ever in high school," said Duke.

The Hawks got it going early as Justin Campbell gave them the lead with an RBI triple in the first inning. After Spanish Fork had gone ahead in the second on an Adam Duke RBI and a run-scoring error, Alta scored a run in the third on Kavin Keyes sacrifice fly and two runs in the fourth on Clint Vanhoff's two-run single to take a two-run lead.

Campbell was on the mound for Alta, his first start since dislocating three ribs in his back three weeks ago. He had been the Hawks' staff ace for the past two seasons, but after not throwing more than an inning at a time in nearly a month, Spanish Fork took advantage of his tiring toward the end.

"You have to give those guys credit," said Dons coach Jim "Shoe" Nelson. "They battled us all day. Their pitcher did everything he could."

Spanish Fork now sits in the enviable position of needing to win only one game to claim the 5A title. It plays Lone Peak today at 1:30 p.m. at Brent Brown Ballpark.

Today's championship

Spanish Fork (22-4) vs. Lone Peak (22-6), 1:30 p.m. at UVU

Note: If Spanish Fork loses, a second "if" game will be played around either 5 or 8 p.m.

E-mail: mblack@desnews.com