DIVISION I BASEBALL: Grand slam leaves Gaels on cusp of championship

A right hamstring injury limited Brandon Wulff’s effectiveness during the Sunset Region tournament last week, and the senior still hadn’t quite felt like himself through most of the team’s first two state tournament games.

After his final at-bat Friday, it looks like the old Wulff is back.

Wulff hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning to give Bishop Gorman a 12-2 victory over Arbor View in the Division I state baseball tournament at Durango.

“I was really frustrated with my previous who knows how many at-bats,” said Wulff, who has signed with Stanford. “Ever since I got injured, I haven’t really swung it like I normally do. The last at-bat, I was just finally happy to get a pitch that I could drive, and I just swung as hard as I could.”

The home run ended the game via the 10-run mercy rule and put the Gaels into the state championship round against Green Valley (30-7) at 1 p.m. today at Durango. The Gators would have to beat Gorman twice to win the title.

“I’m just excited for tomorrow,” Wulff said. “Tomorrow’s the day we’ve been preparing for the whole season, and it’s finally coming. It’s going to be a bittersweet ending, but hopefully we come home with the hardware.”

The Gaels won seven consecutive state titles from 2006 to 2012, but didn’t make the state tournament last season.

“It just feels good to finally start winning,” Wulff said. “Last year we weren’t winning games, but this year we’re finally winning stuff and coming together really well.”

Arbor View struck first when Nick Quintana hit a two-run homer to left field in the top of the first.

But the Gaels flexed their muscles throughout the game, blasting three homers and scoring in five of six innings.

“All around we were really good,” Wulff said.

The Gaels tied it on a two-run double by Grant Robbins in the bottom of the first, and the top of the lineup gave Gorman the lead in the third.

Leadoff man Cadyn Grenier doubled, and Beau Capanna followed with a homer to left-center field to give the Gaels the lead for good.

“The first inning, I didn’t really feel too nervous, because I know the top of our lineup can hammer the ball,” Wulff said. “I was hoping the bottom part of our lineup could beat their bottom part of the lineup. They were able to get the job done, and we were able to put up runs almost every inning.”

Matt Hudgins had a two-run homer in the fifth for Gorman, his eighth homer of the season. His team lead didn’t last long as Wulff hit his eighth the next inning.

Sophomore left-hander Matt Mitchell settled in after the first inning, and pitched a complete game to get the win. He allowed four hits, just two over the final five innings.

“Mitchell’s probably one of the best pitchers that can compete up on the mound,” Wulff said. “And he showed it again today.”

■ Green Valley 6, Arbor View 3 — Aggies coach Jay Guest got ejected arguing a call after the top of the fifth.

After the ejection, he sprinted across the field, shouting in the face of two umpires, then uprooted third base and tossed it into foul territory.

But instead of firing up the Aggies, it was Green Valley that got the boost. Jarrett Perns led off the bottom of the fifth with a homer down the left-field line, and Gavin Morley added a long homer to left as the Gators tacked on three more runs to take a 6-0 lead.

The insurance runs came in handy. Ryan McHale hit a towering homer to left to lead off the sixth, and Brandon Stevens led off the seventh with a line drive homer to left to make it 6-2.

The Aggies (27-12) got singles from R.J. Rodriguez and Jayce Gardner to chase starter Spencer Cofer with one out. Nick Quintana singled home a run to bring up McHale representing the tying run. McHale hit a high fly ball to right for the second out, and Ben Cutting walked to load the bases.

After falling behind 3-0, Frankie Fitzgerald got Ben Fitzhugh to ground out to third to end the game.

■ Green Valley 11, Reno 1 — The Gators scored eight runs in the bottom of the first and the outcome was never in doubt as they eliminated the Huskies in five innings.

Drake Maningo had a three-run double in the first and finished 2-for-2 with five RBIs to lead the Gators, who sent 12 batters to the plate in the first inning.

Green Valley had eight hits and took advantage of three Reno errors in the first.

Jarrod Penniman went 2-for-3 with a double, a run and an RBI, and Gavin Morley was 2-for-3 with a solo homer for the Gators. Jarrett Perns and A.J. Amelburu each had two hits for Green Valley.

Perns was 2-for-2 with two runs in the first inning.

Blake Inouye went the distance, allowing three hits, to get the win. He struck out two, walked two and needed just 57 pitches.

Ryan Boucher had an RBI single in the third inning for Reno, which finished 25-7.

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587. Follow him on Twitter: @DamonSeiters.