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 31^st 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.