When Bishop Gorman shortstop Justin Rodrigues blasted a home run in the bottom of the first inning on Friday, Gaels starter Jack Stoner had one thought.
“I knew that’s all I needed,” Stoner said. “I knew it was good.”
He was right.
Stoner fired a three-hit shutout as the Gaels edged Spanish Springs 2-0 at Las Vegas High to move into the championship round of the Class 5A state baseball tournament.
Gorman (31-6) plays Bishop Manogue at 10 a.m. on Saturday for the title. Manogue, the North’s No. 2 seed, beat Centennial 2-1 in eight innings in an elimination game Friday morning, and then beat Northern champion Spanish Springs 10-5 later in the afternoon Friday in a losers bracket state semifinal.
Because Gorman, the South’s No. 1 seed, is 2-0 in the double-elimination tournament, Manogue would have to beat the Gaels twice to claim the crown.
Stoner set the tone early, retiring the first six batters he faced and needing 18 pitches through two innings.
He gave up a leadoff double to Cole Schaeffer to start the third, but then struck out the next three batters to get out of the inning. Stoner finished with six strikeouts and three walks.
“My cutter was good,” Stoner said. “I just tried to attack with my fastball, make them put the ball in play. I’ve got the best seven players in town behind me, so it was good. Everyone did their job. We got the job done, and now we’re on to tomorrow.”
Rodrigues came up with one out in the first and drilled an 0-2 pitch over the fence in left for the early lead.
“Awesome,” said Gorman coach Matt Stoner, Jack Stoner’s father. “He’s been doing it all year. But our offensive approach today wasn’t very good.”
Gorman got an insurance run in the second after DeMari Hall walked to lead off the inning and went to second on an errant pickoff throw by Schaeffer. Austin Arteaga singled through the right side one out later to score Hall and make it 2-0.
From there it was all Stoner, who was able to pitch out of trouble in the fourth and fifth. The Cougars loaded the bases in the fourth and had runners at second and third in the fifth, but Stoner was able to get a key ground ball each time to get out of the inning.
“It was a really good win,” Matt Stoner said. “We pitched really good today. Jack was excellent today.”
The Gaels also had chances to tack onto their lead, but failed to execute, especially in the fifth. Arteaga led off with a walk, and No. 9 hitter Alex LaRosa singled to bring up the top of the order.
But Alec Kajioka popped up his bunt attempt, and Schaeffer retired the next two batters to escape the jam.
“We didn’t play our best offensively, but we got the job done,” Matt Stoner said. “We really, really, really fought.”
Gorman now sits in the ideal position in the double-elimination tournament. The Gaels have only needed to use their bullpen for one inning in the two tournament wins, so their pitching staff is about as fresh as it could be.
“It’s just everything’s on the line,” Jack Stoner said. “It’s exactly what we’ve wanted all year. And we’ve been antsy. It’s finally here, so we’re going to take all the good and we’re going to forget about the bad and we’re going to just keep rolling.”
Earlier Friday, Manogue scored a run in the bottom of the eighth inning to earn a walk-off win to eliminate the Bulldogs (27-13), the South’s No. 2 seed.
The Miners scored on a botched squeeze bunt when catcher Centennial catcher Trevor Henson threw to third to try and get the runner out, but Manogue’s Keenan Dolan race home on Henson’s throw and beat the return throw to home plate.
Manogue lost to Gorman 10-2 in an opening round game Thursday.
