Palo Verde stays out of post-Gorman trap, edges Desert Oasis

Palo Verde baseball coach Joe Hallead did his best imitation of Admiral Ackbar from “Return of the Jedi” this week.

Following the Panthers’ victory over top-ranked Bishop Gorman on Wednesday, Hallead told his players of the trap that awaited them Friday.

Apparently, the warning got through.

Mitchell Rathbun hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth inning, and host Palo Verde earned a 4-2 victory over Desert Oasis.

“It was a trap game, for real today, because after you beat Gorman at Gorman … and everybody’s praising you at school, we really had to work hard (Thursday) to talk about ‘Show up to the field, faceless opponent, play your game,’ ” Hallead said. “And I thought they did. I thought they played really good defense, and our pitchers were outstanding today.”

Rathbun finished 2-for-3, and Blake Porter added a solo home run in the second inning for Palo Verde (14-10, 8-5 Division I Sunset League), which won its fourth game in a row despite playing without three starters against the Diamondbacks.

The Panthers scratched out an unearned run in the third inning to tie the game at 2 and went ahead for good in fifth. Wesley Cosby drew a one-out walk, and Rathbun followed by depositing the first pitch he saw from Desert Oasis starter Brett Brocoff over the fence in right-center field.

“That was a heck of a swing by Mitchell, and he’s been getting hot for us,” Hallead said.

The Diamondbacks (14-10, 7-6) managed only five hits against three Palo Verde pitchers. Reliever Tanner Lewis struck out four in two innings to get the victory, and Tallon Thomason pitched a perfect seventh inning for the save.

“I’m really proud of our pitching staff and our defense today, and we did enough with the bats to get the win,” Hallead said.

Desert Oasis played small ball in the second to take a 2-0 lead. Jason Sharman chopped a ball to the right side and won a footrace to the bag against Rathbun, allowing Aaron Roberts to score from third. Andrew Martinez then dropped down a safety squeeze to score Nic Lane.

Brocoff pitched the distance for the Diamondbacks, allowing five hits while striking out eight.

“Brocoff was awesome today,” Hallead said. “He’s a top-class pitcher in this league, and he proved it today. We just got a couple of balls over the fence, and that was the difference in the game really.”

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ