Good thing Spanish Fork has a backup plan. The Dons were a heavy favorite to not only win the state 4A baseball title, but to breeze through the championship bracket.

Surprise.

Snow Canyon stunned Spanish Fork Wednesday afternoon with a convincing 7-2 win over the Dons, who have been ranked in the top 10 nationally by more than one national publication.

But if there is one team that could survived a run through the loser’s bracket it is Spanish Fork.

Snow Canyon pulled off the upset of the tournament so far when the Warriors chased starting pitcher Kayden Porter from the game on Wednesday after seven runs in three innings. The Dons brought in sophomore Brady Corless, who hit 91 on the gun and shut down the Warriors for the final four innings. What’s crazy is he could be considered the team’s No. 4 pitcher.

Spanish Fork used four home runs to beat Salem Hills 11-0 on Wednesday night to stay alive in the tournament and the game went five innings, a bonus when you are trying to save pitching.

Spanish Fork now needs to win four more games to win the state tournament.

Do the Dons have the pitching?

Hayden Nielsen, who pitched on Saturday and shutout Salem Hills on Wednesday may be out to the mix, but the team still has a rested Matt Nelson and both Porter and Corless should be ready to come back. Porter threw just 45 pitches, and Corless threw 54 on Wednesday.

Spanish Fork coach Jim Nelson all but ruled out the possibility of using James Lengal, who has hasn’t pitched all year due to a shoulder injury, but the Dons still have enough depth to make a comeback.

“I’d feel a lot better if we were undefeated cause there’s no room for error,” said Spanish Fork coach Jim Nelson. “The bad thing about where we are at is if you play a bad inning we could be done. This team has been solid, solid all year long. You don’t get ranked No. 1 in the state and be ranked nationally without being a good team, but we got our work cutout for us.”

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