Gorman wins Sunset crown

Spencer Patterson

Friday, May 1, 1998 | 8:43 a.m.

The Bishop Gorman baseball team saved its best for last.

Down to their final at-bat against rival Durango in Thursday's regular-season finale, the host Gaels rallied to force extra innings, where they picked up a thrilling 7-5 victory.

Gorman (22-5, 10-2) also captured the Sunset Division title, marking the sixth straight year it has finished with at least a share of the division crown.

"I've got a bunch of seniors, and before the game I said 'This is the last home game of your careers; don't let them come in here and steal it from us,' " Gaels coach Tim Chambers said.

Senior Jason Van Meetren was the story of the game, pitching nine innings of six-hit baseball and blasting a pair of two-run homers, including the game-winner off James Teligades in the ninth.

"You dream about opportunities like that," Van Meetren said. "I was just going on adrenaline by then."

Durango (23-7, 8-3) took a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning, thanks in large part to two home runs by DH Jack Newark -- a three-run bomb in the first and a solo shot in the fifth.

After Scott Yahraus walked Van Meetren to put runners on first and second with two outs in the seventh, the Trailblazers called on right-hander Richard Kilby to slam the door.

Gorman's Ryan Lee had other ideas, though, sending a 1-0 pitch back through the box to plate teammate Nick Dider and knot the score.

The hosts nearly put the game away in the next inning, loading the bases with no one out to open the eighth. But a strikeout and a double play kept the Gaels off the board and gave Durango new life.

The Trailblazers couldn't capitalize, thanks to more clutch pitching by Van Meetren, who didn't surrender a hit over the final three innings.

And after Dallas Pollaro singled to lead off the Gorman ninth, Van Meetren connected for a first pitch, no-doubt-about-it homer to left field to send his teammates and the Gorman fans into a frenzy.

Bishop Gorman will open next week's Southern Zone tournament as the Sunset Division's top seed, while Durango could fall into the third slot if Cimarron-Memorial defeats Clark today.

"We wanted the one seed, but it wasn't the most important thing," Chambers said. "But we think that winning six division titles in a row is a pretty good thing."