SUNSET BASEBALL: Gaels find missing ingredient, rout Cimarron

Bishop Gorman baseball coach Gino DiMaria said offense was the ingredient his team was missing when Cimarron-Memorial shocked the top seed in the opening game of the Division I Sunset Region baseball tournament on Tuesday.

The Gaels found it on Friday in a rematch with the Spartans.

Beau Capanna hit a second-inning grand slam, and Gorman had 12 hits en route to a 10-0, five-inning win over Cimarron in the losers’ bracket final. The Gaels (31-5) play Centennial (26-9) in the championship round at noon on Saturday. Gorman would have to win twice to capture the title and earn a berth at state.

“All of our pitching has been good the whole tournament, it’s just our hitting,” DiMaria said. “We’re starting to go back and play the Gorman way. We’re starting to just come out, be aggressive and go after what we want.”

Gorman got an RBI single from Myles Denson in the bottom of the first, then tacked on five runs in the second thanks to a pair of no-doubt homers.

After the first three runners reached, Capanna crushed a 3-1 fastball over the fence in left for a 5-0 lead. Two batters later, Nick Hernandez drove another long homer to left to make it 6-0.

That was more than enough for Gorman starter Alex Tisminesky. He went the distance, allowing just two hits. He struck out nine and walked two.

“Tizzy’s been our closer all year and we needed him to step up and pitch, and he did a hell of a job,” DiMaria said.

Cimarron (14-19) never threatened against Tisminesky, managing just an infield single by Alexander Marco in the first, and a soft liner for a base hit by Jaret Godman in the third. Tisminesky got better as the game went on, retiring the final seven batters he faced, six on strikeouts.

Capanna went 2-for-4 with three runs and five RBIs. Nicholas Israel and Braxton Wehrle each went 2-for-2 with two runs, and Jorel Hingada was 2-for-3 for Gorman. Eight of the team’s nine starters had at least one hit.

DiMaria’s team has won four straight after the 3-1 loss to the eighth-seeded Spartans on Tuesday that knocked the Gaels into the losers’ bracket.

“It is not fun,” DiMaria said of playing through the losers’ bracket. “It has been stressful, nervous. We got caught. Cimarron came out and gave it to us the first game.”

DiMaria said the team has enough pitching to get through two more games. But he said offense will be more important for the defending state champs.

“The way we’re going to win this tournament is not by our pitching,” DiMaria said. “It’s going to be if we continue to hit the ball like we’re doing. That’ll be what gets us to the state championship.

“Right now what’s carrying us is the intensity, the emotions, the passion. We really want to go back and defend our title. And we’re going to go down with a fight.”

Bishop Gorman 11, Palo Verde 1 — Wehrle was 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs to lead the Gaels to the six-inning win over the Panthers.

Wehrle’s solo homer with one out in the third was the team’s first hit. The Gaels tacked on three in the fourth and six in the sixth to pull away.

Marques Paige went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI, Hingada was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, and Capanna went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs for Gorman. Austin Wells and Jordan Sadovia each added two RBIs for the Gaels. Wells’ two-run triple in the fourth broke a 1-1 tie.

Zach Grech went the distance, allowing seven hits, to get the win. He struck out six with no walks.

Blake Porter and Nolan Erickson each had two hits for Palo Verde, which finished 19-15.