Strong pitching keeps Gorman rolling

Bishop Gorman's Stephen Manthei couldn't match teammate Jeff Malm's 15-strikeout performance from Thursday. But the senior right-hander was plenty good Friday, throwing five shutout innings to help the Gaels to an 8-0 win over Douglas in the Class 4A state baseball tournament at the College of Southern Nevada.

Manthei allowed two hits and struck out eight without walking a batter.

"He was going right at them," Gorman coach Chris Sheff said. "That's obviously our key for success with our pitching staff. If we go at people and throw strikes, we think we'll have some success."

Gorman (39-4), which has won the last three 4A titles, moved to 2-0 in the tournament and will play Cimarron-Memorial (33-6) at 10 a.m. today at CSN. Cimarron must beat Gorman twice to win the title.

"It's great to put ourselves in a position where we have to lose twice in one day, which will be really hard for a team to do," Manthei said.

Gorman staked Manthei to a three-run lead in the top of the first inning.

Joey Rickard led off with a double, and a single by Manthei and a walk to Malm loaded the bases.

One out later, sophomore Erik Van Meetren dropped a soft liner into right field for a double, scoring two runs. The next batter grounded out to first. Van Meetren broke for third, but Malm hadn't budged, and first baseman Kameron Van Winkle had the duo hung up at third. But his throw was high, and Malm scored.

Manthei took over from there. He retired the first 10 batters he faced before Beau Davis hit a one-out single to right in the fourth. Manthei threw 74 pitches, 52 for strikes.

Gorman had two two-run innings in the third and fourth to stretch the lead to 7-0. R.J. Santigate had a two-run triple, and Van Meetren hit another bloop double to score two more. Rickard added a solo homer in the seventh. But the Gaels left nine runners on base.

"We got a few breaks and got a couple big hits," Sheff said. "I still think we should have executed better. Even though it was 8-0, I thought we had opportunities to really make it easier on ourselves."

Santigate pitched the final two innings, allowing one hit and striking out four. Twenty-seven of the 45 outs Gorman has recorded in the tournament have been via strikeout.

• Cimarron-Memorial 10, Douglas 1 -- Kaz Smith went 4-for-4 with three RBIs for the Spartans, who got their second consecutive strong pitching performance to advance to the championship round.

Smith had a double and an RBI single as part of an eight-run fifth for Cimarron, which bounced back after losing 9-5 to Douglas on Thursday.

Kris Kaplan was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs for Cimarron.

The eight-run outburst was more than enough for senior Taylor Doyle, who allowed an unearned run on four hits in six innings. He struck out nine. That followed Kody Gorden's five-hit shutout in the day's first game.

"Last high school start, and he came out good just like Kody Gorden did today," Smith said. "Two seniors stepping it up for us. That's what we need."

Now Cimarron's 11 seniors hope to top Gorman twice to win the state title. The Spartans beat the Gaels 10-2 in the Sunset Region title game, ending Gorman's 35-game win streak.

"At least we're playing tomorrow," Cimarron coach Mike Hubel said. "It's a huge feat, but like I told the kids, it doesn't matter what we do or how we do it, we're going to play the game of baseball and let the chips fall where they may."

• Cimarron-Memorial 4, Green Valley 0 -- The Spartans scored four runs in the first and held on to eliminate the Gators.

Gorden, who struck out three, was helped by four double plays.

Doyle had an RBI double, and Kaplan and Smith had RBI singles in the first. Kaplan and Doyle each finished 2-for-3.

Brett Harrison was 2-for-3 for Green Valley.

Contact Prep Sports Editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587.