Baseball: Gloucester Catholic set for Las Vegas

Gloucester Catholic will play four or five games in Las Vegas this week in the prestigious Bishop Gorman Easter Classic.

The Rams, who are 4-0 after beating Deptford by a 19-0 score on Monday, are set to depart for Las Vegas at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.

GC, which is No. 1 in The Inquirer Top 10 and No. 6 in MaxPreps Xcellewnt 25 national rankings, will open the tournament Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. against Whittier (Cal.).

"Some of my coaches are just getting in at that time," GC coach Dennis Barth joked of the early starting time.

The Rams also will play Bishop Manogue of Reno, Nv., and Dougherty Valley of San Ramon, Cal., in pool play.

GC hopes to get a shot at host Bishop Gorman, which is No. 9 in MaxPreps' Xcellent 25, in Saturday's semifinals or finals.

"I don't know how ready we are," Barth said. "We're going to go out there and try to win the thing."

GC played more than a dozen scrimmages to try to get ready for this tournament since all of their opponents will be much deeper in their regular seasons.

But all four of GC's regular-season games have been shortened by by the 10-run mercy rule. GC has outscored its four opponents  by 60-1.

On Mondfay, the Rams rapped 14 hits and senior lefty Dan Higgins pitched a no-hitter against Deptford. Higgins faced just 16 batters, one over the minimum for the five-inning game.

"We're going to face great comptition but I think we're ready for it," said GC senior first baseman John Brue, a St. Joe's recruit.

-- Phil Anastasia