Gaels strong-arm way to Sunset title
Arbor View’s baseball team had been on an offensive roll, scoring 37 runs on 38 hits in the first three games of the Sunset Regional tournament.
Bishop Gorman’s Paul Sewald put an emphatic end to that Friday night at Durango.
Sewald pitched a four-hitter and struck out 11 as the Gaels (32-6-1) beat Arbor View 10-0 in five innings to win the Sunset Regional crown.
“This is what you want to do,” Sewald said. “You want to pitch in a regional final like this. Besides the state championship, this is as big as they come.”
The Gaels earn a berth in the Class 4A state tournament Thursday through Saturday at the Community College of Southern Nevada.
Gorman, which won the school’s first state baseball title last spring, now gets an opportunity to repeat.
“As a program that’s what we talk about. We talk about trying to win a state championship,” coach Chris Sheff said. “So now we’re back in a spot where if we win three games we can win another one.”
Arbor View (22-10) will face Sunrise runner-up Silverado (23-12) at 11 a.m. today at Durango, with the winner earning the final berth in the four-team state tournament.
Gorman had allowed 16 runs in the first three games of the tournament, but its No. 4 starter proved to be too much for the Aggies.
“We gave up a few runs in this tournament, and we’ve been fortunate to outscore people, but tonight Paulie put us in a real comfortable position,” Sheff said.
Arbor View batters were consistently behind Sewald’s fastball, and he used it to pitch himself out of trouble. He struck out Oscar Hudson with two on and two out to end the first and fanned Robbie Garvey with the bases loaded to end the fourth.
“I got a feeling down in the bullpen this was going to be a good night,” Sewald said. “I was throwing strikes early, which kind of helped. And good velocity and hitting the corners, that’s what pitching is all about.”
Sewald’s performance came in the team’s fourth game in as many days.
“It’s our fourth guy in the rotation, and he blanks somebody,” Sheff said. “It just shows you the kind of depth that we’ve had.”
The Aggies weren’t as fortunate, though their two hurlers allowed only four hits. But Gorman took advantage of eight walks, a hit batter and six Arbor View errors to score 10 unearned runs.
“I think that’s the kind of offensive club we have,” Sheff said. “If you give us extra outs, it’s going to be difficult to stay out of a big inning with us.”
The Gaels used two walks and an error to score three runs in the bottom of the first and cruised from there. They added three more runs in the third and two each in fourth and fifth innings.
The only inning in which Gorman didn’t score also was Arbor View’s only errorless inning.
Taylor Cole and Brandon Garcia each drove in two runs for the Gaels.
Michael Blazek was 2-for-3 with a double for Arbor View.
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