Gorman wins again in Series

Jeff Malm delivered one go-ahead hit and prevented any other from happening Saturday.

The Bishop Gorman standout hit a tiebreaking home run in the sixth inning and pitched two scoreless innings of relief as the Titans defeated Pasco (Wash.) 10-8 in the American Legion World Series in Shelby, N.C.

The Titans (72-7-1) will face Sumter (S.C.) at 5 p.m. today. Gorman and Sumter are the only remaining undefeated teams in the double-elimination tournament.

Malm's one-out solo homer to right field in the sixth gave the Titans a 9-8 lead. It came just after Pasco had rallied from an 8-2 deficit to tie the game in the top of the inning.

"That was an absolutely huge momentum swing," Gorman coach Chris Sheff said. "Anytime a team fights back from six runs down, they have momentum. Jeff steps up and hits one 400-plus feet, and all of a sudden we have the momentum again."

Malm picked off the potential tying run to end the top of the eighth inning. After Gorman added a run in the bottom of the eighth, Pasco again put the tying run on base in the ninth, but Malm's third strikeout completed the win.

"That's why he's closing for us," Sheff said. "He's a big-game pitcher. There's no one else we want out there in that situation."

Gorman had six singles and took advantage of two errors to score six runs in the second inning and build a 7-1 lead.

Each team scored once in the third inning, and the Titans carried the 8-2 lead into the fifth inning.

Pasco scored three runs on two two-out hits in the fifth and three runs, again on two-out hits, to tie the score in the sixth.

Malm wasted little time giving Gorman the lead again. He finished 2-for-4 with three runs.

Gorman's Corey Lafler was 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Paul Sewald and starting pitcher Joey Rickard each added two hits and an RBI.

The Titans have won 18 straight games.

"We expect to win," Sheff said. "We played well enough this summer to be here. Whether we can play well enough to win a World Series, that remains to be seen."