BOX SCORE - PLAYS - CUMULATIVES: Bishop Gorman | Huntington Beach

CARY, N.C. – Huntington Beach (Huntington Beach, Calif.) held off a late rally by Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) to win, 3-2, in the semifinal round of the 2023 National High School Invitational (NHSI) presented by the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance on Friday.

The win sends the Oilers (3-0) to the tournament title game for the first time since they won it all in 2016. Bishop Gorman (2-1) falls into consolation play for their NHSI finale.

Huntington Beach scored a run in the first, fourth, and sixth innings to slowly build a 3-0 lead in the semifinal. That lead dwindled to one in the bottom of the sixth, when Bishop Gorman rallied for a pair of runs before Oilers reliever Colin McNiven stranded the tying run on second with a clutch punch out. McNiven returned to the mound for the seventh and worked around a two-out single and stolen base to lock down the win.

Dean Carpentier was responsible for most of the Huntington Beach offense, going 4-for-4 and scoring a run. The shortstop­–whose four hits tie him for the NHSI tournament record with 13 others–led off the game with a double and scored the opening run on a Ralphy Velazquez sacrifice fly before adding singles in the third, fifth, and seventh. Bradley Navarro (1-for-2, RBI) and Colby Turner (1-for-2) had the only other two hits for Huntington Beach. Bishop Gorman out-hit the Oilers, 10-6, led by two-hit days from Burke Mabeus (2-for-3), Anthony Marnell IV (2-for-3, RBI), and Aiden Pollock (2-for-3).

Brad Grindlinger (1-0) started on the mound for the Oilers and scattered five hits over four scoreless innings, working out of several jams to keep the Gaels off the scoreboard and earn the win. Bishop Gorman’s James Whitaker (0-1) was handed the loss after allowing two runs in four innings of work. McNiven (1) was clutch over the final two innings to earn the save.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

• Huntington Beach applied pressure early and cashed in for the game’s first run when Dean Carpentier led off with a double and later scored on a Ralphy Velazquez sacrifice fly.
• Two consecutive walks put a pair on with none out for Bishop Gorman in the second, but Huntington Beach catcher Trent Grindlinger picked a runner off to help his brother Brad Grindlinger escape unscathed.
• After two quick outs in the Bishop Gorman third, the Gaels rallied for two straight hits but Brad Grindlinger coaxed a fly out to keep it a 1-0 lead for the Oilers.
• A walk and hit-by-pitch put two runners on for Huntington Beach’s Bradley Navarro, who roped an RBI single back up the middle to put the Oilers up 2-0 in the fourth.
• Bishop Gorman put together another two-out rally in the fourth until Brad Grindlinger got out of the jam by inducing a foul out with two runners on to maintain the two-run lead for the Oilers.
• Maddox Riske snuck a ground ball down the left field line and hustled for a double to start the Bishop Gorman fifth, but Huntington Beach reliever Wyatt Thomas got three clutch outs without allowing a run to score.
• Huntington Beach grew its lead to three in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Brian Trujillo, plating pinch-runner Trevor Goldenetz.
• The Gaels offense awakened in the sixth to get within a run. Burke Mabeus split the right-center field gap for a double to start the inning and scored on Gunnar Myro’s RBI single to trim the Bishop Gorman deficit to two.
• Anthony Marnell IV hit an RBI single to right field to score Bishop Gorman’s second run and make it a 3-2 game in the bottom of the sixth, but Huntington Beach reliever Colin McNiven picked up a big strikeout to stop the bleeding.
• Trailing by a run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Bishop Gorman’s Burke Mabeus singled and stole second base but was stranded on a game-ending groundout.

NOTABLE INFORMATION

• With their RBIs in Friday’s contest, Gunnar Myro (Bishop Gorman) and Ralphy Velazquez (Huntington Beach) are tied for the tournament lead with six runs driven in.
• Huntington Beach’s Dean Carpentier joins a list of 14 players, including New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, as the only players with four hits in an NHSI game.
• With his two-hit day, Bishop Gorman’s Aiden Pollock maintained his .500 batting average at the NHSI.
• Bishop Gorman had not allowed a run in tournament play until Huntington Beach scored in the top of the first on Friday. The Gaels’ tournament-ERA sits at 1.29
• Huntington Beach is now 2-2 all-time in NHSI semifinal games and 17-6 overall in tournament play.

ON DECK

Huntington Beach advances to the NHSI title game against JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) on Saturday, with first pitch set for 4:30 p.m. ET. Bishop Gorman will wrap up its tournament by taking on Doral Academy (Miami, Fla.) at 5:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon.

All games of the 2023 NHSI will be streamed on USABaseball.TV and @USABaseballTV on YouTube.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Stay tuned with all of the action at the 2023 National High School Invitational by following @USABEvents on Twitter and @USABaseball on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Fans and media can use #NHSI23 in their posts.