Joey Gallo tops Paul Sewald in a duel of Bishop Gorman stars

There are roughly 15.4 million students who attend high school in the United States, but only 750 major league ballplayers. The odds of two from the same school facing each other with a game on the line must be astronomical.

But so it was Thursday when Bishop Gorman’s Paul Sewald pitched to fellow Gael Joey Gallo at Yankee Stadium.

The Mariners led 3-2 when Gallo golfed a low slider from Sewald just barely onto the short porch in right field for a three-run homer and a 5-3 Yankees’ victory.

Contacted in New York Friday, Sewald said it was the first time he and Gallo had faced each other in the big leagues.

“I want to say I faced him a couple of times in the minor leagues and it had gone fairly well,” said the right-handed reliever, who is enjoying a renaissance with the Mariners after spending four seasons with New York’s other baseball team, the Mets. “Had we been anywhere other than Yankee Stadium, that would have been a pop-out.”

Said Gallo about his first homer in pinstripes since being traded by the Texas Rangers: “I was just hoping that it would stay fair. I was just hoping it would get out.”

At Gorman, Gallo was four years behind Sewald, who pitched and played outfield for the school’s first state baseball championship team in 2006. Sewald said his younger brother Johnny, who played at Arizona State and spent a couple of seasons in the Houston Astros’ organization, and Gallo were close friends.

As for getting even with his former Gael, Sewald, who as of Friday had struck out 59 batters while walking only 12 in 35⅓ innings for Seattle, mustered a chuckle.

“I’d be shocked if I didn’t face them again in the next three games,” he said.

Around the horn

— A day after celebrating his 43rd birthday Wednesday, NASCAR star Kurt Busch talked about the impact of Craig Keough, founder and owner of Las Vegas’ Star Nursery and his first major sponsor, on his formative years as a speed demon.

“He turned me into more of a professional and all-around racer,” Busch said during a phone chat as he prepared to climb into a simulator for refresher laps on the venerable Watkins Glen road circuit, site of Sunday’s Cup Series return from a two-week respite. “When we started to travel around on the Southwest Tour and I was representing his Star Nursery brand, that’s when things started to click for me.”

Busch would repay Keough for his generosity before the 2019 Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when he talked his car owner Chip Ganassi into adorning his familiar No. 1 entry with Star Nursery’s colors and logo.

— When Greg Deichmann joined fellow 2021 Las Vegas Aviators teammate Frank Schwindel in the Chicago Cubs starting lineup against the crosstown White Sox Friday, Cubs broadcaster Jim Deshaies remarked about having to loan money to former Las Vegas Stars teammates who had attempted to beat the house during his time in the minors.

Deshaies pitched for the Stars in 1992, going 6-3 with a 4.03 earned-run average while apparently leading the Pacific Coast League in compound interest.

— Garrett Gouldsmith, the 22-year-old son of former UNLV baseball coach Buddy Gouldsmith, died after drowning in Donner League near Lake Tahoe on August 1. Garrett Gouldsmith was an all-state baseball player at Reno High who played at New Mexico and Washington State.

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Yes, Kurt Busch said. Younger brother Kyle eventually congratulated him after the siblings finished 1-2 in a recent race at Atlanta that locked Kurt into the NASCAR playoffs but caused Kyle to mostly complain about blocking tactics by his brother’s teammate Ross Chastain that played a part in Kurt’s win.

“He loves to win, right?” Kurt said with a telltale chuckle. “He hates to finish second, and then it’s another level when I beat him. It takes him a few days to circle back around, but that’s his style, the competitor in him, and I love him.”

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.