Patriots rally to stay alive in Legion regional

Liberty’s American Legion baseball team rallied for five runs in the top of the sixth on Sunday en route to a 7-4 win over League City (Texas) to stay alive in the American Legion Western Regional in Surprise, Ariz.

The Patriots (32-4)­ will play Tucson (Ariz.)  at 10 a.m. on Monday. The winner of that game faces Petaluma (Calif.) at 1 p.m. for the region title and a berth in the American Legion World Series.

“We scored the five run inning which was huge, and just the momentum changed instantly,” Liberty coach Mike Eshragh said. “We had some key hits, and these guys came through for us. We took the momentum and pulled it out against a good team.”

Liberty trailed 4-0 after five innings, but Preston Pavlica’s infield single started the rally. Josh McCollum doubled and Jesse Keiser walked to load the bases, before the next two batters were retired.

But Ethan Ibarra’s infield single scored Pavlica, and Griffin Kelly was hit by a pitch to force in another run. Giovanni Battistoni had an RBI infield single to score Keiser, and Nicholas Rush doubled to right to plate two runs to give Liberty the lead.

“We had a talk before the game about how close our team is and wanting to keep this special season alive,” Eshragh said. “It’s just one of those things, it took us a little bit to get going and get some balls to fall in.”

The Patriots added two runs in the eighth on an RBI double by Battistoni and an error.

Ibarra, who came on to get the final two outs in an 18-4 loss to Petaluma on Saturday, threw six solid innings to get the win. He allowed four runs on eight hits with two strikeouts.

“Ethan hasn’t thrown one inning up until yesterday,” Eshragh said. “We needed him to start today and he kpet us close, and did a great job for us.”

Dan Skelly, who threw eight innings to get the win in the opener on Thursday, pitched three scoreless innings to get a save. He allowed two hits and struck out three.

Pavlica and Battistoni each went 3-for-4 to lead the Patriots, and Ibarra was 2-for-5.

Jack Kaiser was 2-for-5 with a solo homer for League City.

Eshragh said Nate Bennett would start against Tucson. Bennett threw a complete game on Friday.

“We’ve got Bennett going and Bennett always gives us a chance to win,” Eshragh said. “We’re going into the first game very confident. And after that game, obviously, everything’s on the table there.”