Baseball: Tigers finish third at Gorman invite

Douglas senior Tyler May capped off a brilliant week at the Bishop Gorman Easter Classic with perhaps an even more brilliant performance.

May pitched two-hit ball over seven innings over the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball squad, striking out eight and walking three to lead Douglas to to a 2-0 win in the third-place game Saturday.

May also tripled and scored both runs of the game, driven in by Tim Rudnick and Beau Davis.

Through five games in the tournament, May batted .474 with three doubles, a triple, a home run and eight RBIs. The win on Saturday was May's second of the week, as he'd struck out three and walked one in three innings against Montclair Prep earlier in the week.

His performance against Vauxhall, an academy with an annual tuition of $13,600 that draws the best baseball players in Canada for a 55-plus game season around the continent, was by far his most impressive of the week. The Jets already have eight players signed with college programs for next year. Two players on the roster were recently selected to the Canadian Junior National team.

"We only put together two hits for the ball game as the Douglas pitcher consistently baffled our hitters with a sneaky fastball and sharp slider," Vauxhall pitcher Austin Cooper said on the club's Web site.

May's performance on the mound wasn't the only solid outing for the Tigers during the week. Friday night, Douglas fell 8-0 to nationally-ranked Bishop Gorman in the tournament semifinals.

Senior lefty Tyler Hoelzen scattered six hits through the first four innings, recovering from a bumpy start during which he gave up five runs on three hits and two walks in the first inning.

He struck out six and walked none from there before giving up the final three runs on a home run from RJ Santigate in the fifth inning. He kept Gorman's two All-American selections " Erik Van Meetren and Jeff Malm to a combined two hits, although the duo accounted for five of Gorman's runs.

Gorman, which has won the last three Nevada state championships and is ranked as high as No. 1 in the country in one poll and no lower than 20th in any of the others, went on to win the tournament the next day with a 4-0 victory over Newbury Park.

Douglas won its pool in the tournament with victories over San Benito, Calif., and Montclair Prep, Calif. and a 6-6 tie against the Gorman junior varsity squad.