John Curtis

Catholic High relief pitcher Tanner Forbes turned around in time to see the groundball headed toward second baseman Turner Goldsmith, which led to a jubilant right fist pump toward the sky.

Forbes, who worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the sixth, got a grounder off the bat of Conner Micheau, who represented the potential tying run, to seal No. 2 Catholic’s 5-2 victory on Saturday over No. 3 John Curtis for a sweep of the Division I select state semifinal series.

“That’s kind of been my role this year when there’s a lot of people on base,” said Forbes, who picked up his fifth save in relief of winning pitcher Mills Richardson. “I know I have the stuff to make it happen, and I’ve got to trust it and trust my defense to make plays.”

Catholic (34-5) won for the 13th time in its last 14 games in a game that was moved to Walker High’s artificial turf field. The Bears will be in search of their third straight state crown, opening the best-of-three series against No. 1 Brother Martin at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday at McMurray Park in Sulphur.

“This is as much of a grind game as they come,” Catholic coach Brad Bass said. “These are two perennial programs who are tough, and this game was toughness on display because of the amount of things you had to overcome. On offense, we couldn’t quite get going and it’s great to have guys to lean on like Mills Richardson and Tanner Forbes.”

Catholic, which eliminated Curtis (32-9) from the playoffs for the fifth straight year, extended its 2-1 lead with a run in the fifth and added two more in the sixth.

The Bears needed the added insurance when Richardson (10-1) was lifted in the bottom of the sixth when he gave up an RBI single to catcher Jeffrey Curtis and walked Shaun Goodman to load the bases with one out.

Richardson, a Southeastern Louisiana signee, allowed two runs on three hits, walked two and struck out five.

“When he tells me to go get Mills Richardson — (pitching coach) Jake Clouatre said it’s time to get him and there’s total conviction,” Bass said.

Forbes threw three straight balls to his first batter Luke Martinez before rallying with three straight strikes for the second out. He also fanned Landon Padgett to end the inning.

“I took a deep breath after I got the 3-0 (count) and everything settled in and I got the hitters out,” Forbes said. “I was able to throw it over the plate and everything else happened.”

The Patriots got two runners on after one out in the seventh before Forbes struck out lNate Alario and got Micheau to ground out.

“Credit them,” John Curtis coach Jeff Curtis said of Catholic. “They did a great job of wiggling off the hook. We certainly wiggled off the hook earlier. We gave ourselves a chance and sometimes in life that’s all you can ask for.”

Catholic led 2-1 after the first inning and stranded 10 runners through five. Curtis’ pitching staff, with Paul Dufrene (3-1) getting the start, walked 13 batters and hit two more, but the defense was sterling with five double plays. Jeffrey Curtis also picked off two runners.

Lucas Lawrence, who threw a no-hitter in Thursday’s 5-0 victory, came off the bench and chopped a single over the mound for a run in the sixth, and courtesy runner Grant Speer scored on a wild pitch during Goldsmith’s at-bat.