No. 1 Gorman answers uprising by Sierra Vista

The momentum belonged to Sierra Vista’s baseball team after the Mountain Lions scored four runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 5-4 lead.

Not for long.

Bishop Gorman scored a run in the fourth to tie and another in the fifth to take the lead, and the top-ranked Gaels held on for a 6-5 home victory over third-ranked Sierra Vista on Saturday.

It was the 14th consecutive win for Gorman (23-3, 11-0 Southwest League), while Sierra Vista (21-5, 10-1) had its eight-game winning streak snapped.

“That’s some of the stuff we’ve talked about through the years with our club — some resiliency and some fight,” Gaels coach Chris Sheff said. “Even though they kind of slapped us in the jaw in the middle innings, we fought back and were able to take the lead and then hold on.“

Gorman’s Wesley Denzler led off the bottom of the fourth with a double and scored on a two-out bunt single by Johnny Sewald to tie the game.

Johnny Field then walked to lead off the fifth and scored on a one-out single by Joey Gallo.

“We just didn’t have enough bullets in the gun, I guess,” Sierra Vista coach Nate Selby said. “We made a couple mistakes that cost us.”

Most of those mistakes came early, as the Mountain Lions committed three errors in the first three innings. Gorman got its first run in the first inning when Sewald stole third and catcher Scotty Tomassetti’s throw sailed into left field. Gallo’s RBI single made it 2-0.

Sierra Vista hurler Nick Kingham then hit the first two batters in the third, and an errant pickoff throw and a fielding error helped Gorman take a 4-1 lead.

Sierra Vista scored all four runs in the fourth with two outs. Blair Goldsack had a two-run single, Marquis Towers added an RBI single and another run scored on a throwing error.

Each team committed three errors.

“We didn’t play real great defensively,” Sheff said. “I don’t think (Sierra Vista) would say they did, either. It was a little bit of a sloppy game, but you get that sometimes when you have two good clubs and some intensity.”

The teams will meet again at noon next Saturday at Sierra Vista, and that game might be more important. If both teams remain unbeaten against the rest of the league, next Saturday’s winner would get the Southwest’s top playoff seed.

“We’ll play them again in a week, and we’ll hope we can clean up our stuff,” Selby said. “We’re still battling for an opportunity to win our league.”