SUNRISE BASEBALL: Late rally pushes Patriots past Skyhawks

The unfamiliar is often scary, but Liberty baseball coach Nick Didier couldn’t be happier to find himself in an strange spot.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever been in the winners’ bracket at Liberty High School, and it feels pretty good right now,” Didier said after his team’s 8-5 win over visiting Silverado Monday in the Sunrise Region baseball tournament.

The Patriots (24-4) rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to earn the win.

Chris Bradford reached on an error to start the inning. After a walk and a sacrifice, Preston Pavlica was intentionally walked to load the bases. James Martz brought home pinch-runner Jordan Moniz with a sacrifice fly to left, and Josh McCollum delivered a two-run double to the gap in left center to add insurance.

McCollum hit a towering three-run homer to left in the third inning to give Liberty an early advantage.

“Josh has been doing that for us all year,” Didier said. “He’s our three-hole hitter for a reason. He usually comes through for us, and boy, he came up big today.”

Bradford battled through a rough day to go the distance and pick up the win. He needed two visits from the trainer to get through the outing, the first for a knot behind his throwing shoulder that bothered him throughout the game.

He then took a one-hopper that appeared to hit him in the rib cage in the sixth. He finally caught his breath and got the final six outs, but headed to the emergency room after the game because he was having trouble breathing. Didier said the trip to the hospital revealed no broken bones.

“He had a knot in his shoulder and then got dosed with a ball back up the middle,” Didier said. “I asked him if he wanted to come out of the game, and he said 'No chance am I coming out of this game.’”

Pavlica was 2-for-2 with three runs, and Giovanni Battistoni went 2-for-2 with two runs for Liberty, which hosts Basic (13-19) at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Nick Kawano was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs, and Vincent Taormina went 3-for-4 with two runs for Silverado (12-17-1), which plays at Green Valley (21-10) in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Rancho 7, Coronado 3 — At Coronado, Kiefer McLendon allowed just two hits in 4 2/3 innings as the Rams (20-13) shocked the Southeast League champion Cougars (26-3).

Alex Jordan’s two-run double down the left-field line in the third inning gave the Rams the lead for good, and Andrew Wieger followed with an RBI double to give Rancho a 4-1 lead.

The Rams led 5-1 before Coronado scored once in the fourth and took advantage of three walks to score once in the fifth.

Cody Suarez came on with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth and got Coronado’s Miles Bice to line out hard to right field to end the threat.

Rancho tacked on two more runs in the sixth, the last coming on Eric Allen’s steal of home.

“This is probably one of the first complete games we’ve played all season,” Rancho coach Tom Pletsch said. “We’ve shot ourselves in the foot with errors in some games, and we’ve had some other problems. If we can get home and play like this for the rest of the week, we could be there at the end.”

Jordan went 2-for-3 with two runs and the two RBIs. Wieger was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Jose Verdugo went 2-for-3 for Rancho.

McLendon, pitching with a broken thumb on his throwing hand, allowed four walks.

“He pretty well dominated Coronado for four innings,” Pletsch said.

Rancho plays at Foothill (21-9) at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Coronado (26-3) hosts Las Vegas (17-12) in an elimination game, also at 3:30 Tuesday.

Basic 8, Green Valley 6 — At Green Valley, Andrew Church went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs to lead the Wolves to an upset of the top-seeded Gators.

Skyler Mahoney scored three runs for Basic, and teammate Tyler Long scored twice.

Troy Cropper went 2-for-3 with two runs for Green Valley.

Foothill 11, Las Vegas 2 — At Foothill, Anthony Lopez went 3-for-4 with three runs and an RBI to help the Falcons top the Wildcats.

Ryan Moyes was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a run and an RBI, and Royce Salay had a homer and three RBIs for Foothill, which broke the game open with a six-run third inning.

Dustin Cash was 3-for-4, and Nolan Cassell went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for Las Vegas.