61°F
weather icon Mostly Cloudy

BASEBALL: Desert Oasis wins twice to take Gorman tourney

The Desert Oasis baseball team has taken the Bill Belichick “no days off” approach.

After defeating the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball of Alberta, Canada on Saturday in the semifinals of the Bishop Gorman Desert Classic, the Diamondbacks came out in the championship game with a short-handed pitching staff and some clutch hitting to top the Jordan Beetdiggers of Utah 6-3.

“It’s a grind, but our guys came out with a little energy today and got the job done,” Diamondbacks coach Paul Buboltz said.

There was little margin for error for the pitching staff. But Desert Oasis, which played seven games in five days, got what it needed from junior Dustin Mansell in the championship game.

He pitched a strong five innings, allowing two runs in the second. Other than that, he kept the Beetdiggers guessing.

“That was a pretty gutsy performance after throwing yesterday for an inning,” Buboltz said. “He went out and kept them off balance for five innings, and that helped us out tremendously.”

Mansell struck out only three, but he kept the Diamondbacks in the game after they fell behind 2-0.

“I got hit pretty bad by this team yesterday,” Mansell said. “I came in with kind of a heads-up attitude like I had to get them back. I was pretty proud by the end. I was just going after them, I was tired of it.”

The Diamondbacks got key at-bats from sophomore Jason Sharman and senior Brett Brocoff in the sixth. Both hit RBI doubles during a four-run inning.

Desert Oasis sent sophomore Aaron Roberts to the mound in the sixth inning, but he only recorded two outs and walked three while struggling to find the strike zone. Junior Cole Schaefer got the final four outs.

“We don’t take a lot of days off,” Buboltz said. “They are well prepared, and this was their reward to get into this championship game. This was a real good tournament, and hopefully winning it gives us some momentum.”

Desert Oasis 9, Vauxhall (Canada) 7 — At Bishop Gorman, the Diamondbacks scored three runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead and held on for a victory over the Jets in the semifinals of the Bishop Gorman Desert Classic.

Jordan (Utah) 12, Liberty 5 — At Bishop Gorman, Kevin Clark drove in two runs, and Jordan Moreno was 3-for-4 with two doubles in the Patriots’ loss to the Beetdiggers in the semifinals of the Bishop Gorman Desert Classic.

Logan Coons was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, and Jacob Rogers was 2-for-3 with a double for the Liberty.

Patriots starting pitcher Michael Wong was tagged for six runs in two innings and took the loss.

Bishop Gorman 14, O’Gorman (S.D.) 7 — At Desert Oasis, Ryan Sepede homered and drove in four runs, and the Gaels beat the Knights in a consolation game of the Bishop Gorman Desert Classic.

Bryce Ruggeroli added a three-run homer as part of a six-run sixth inning for Gorman, and Nick Hernandez was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST