Liberty savoring trip into winners’ bracket

The unfamiliar is often scary, but Liberty coach Nick Didier couldn’t be happier to find himself in a 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 on Monday in the Sunrise Region baseball tournament.

Josh McCollum was 2-for-4 with a double, a homer and five RBIs, and the Patriots rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to earn the win.

“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.”

Preston Pavlica was 2-for-2 with three runs, and Giovanni Battistoni went 2-for-2 with two runs for Liberty.

Nick Kawano was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs, and Vincent Taormina went 3-for-4 for Silverado.

■ Rancho 7, Coronado 3 — At Coronado, Kiefer McLendon allowed just two hits in 4 2/3 innings as the Rams shocked the Southeast League champion Cougars.

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.”

■ 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.

■ 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.

SUNSET REGION

■ Cimarron-Memorial 3, Spring Valley 0 — At Cimarron, Josh Nuernberg tossed a six-hitter, striking out 11 with no walks as the Spartans topped the Grizzlies.

“He pitched off his fastball very well,” Cimarron coach Mike Hubel said. “He located really well, up and down, in and out. They kept swinging at that high fastball, and if they’re going to keep swinging at it, we’re going to keep throwing it.”

Niko Decolati went 2-for-3 with a home run for the Spartans, and Logan Bottrell was 2-for-3 with two runs and a steal.

■ Bonanza 7, Shadow Ridge 4 — At Shadow Ridge, Travis Ming hit a two-run double in the fifth inning to give the Bengals the lead, and they held on to top the Northwest League’s No. 1 seed.

Sean DeSoto added a three-run triple in the sixth, and Brett Doyle and Alec Taft each had two hits for Bonanza.

Dave Estrada went the distance, allowing three earned runs and striking out 10, to get the win.

■ Arbor View 5, Desert Oasis 4 — At Arbor View, Nick Quintana hit a walk-off solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to propel the Aggies past the Diamondbacks.

Arbor View came back from a 4-0 deficit, scoring one run in the sixth and three runs in the seventh. Evan McMahan was 2-for-3 and delivered a two-run double in the seventh to force extra innings. He also went the distance, striking out nine, to pick up the win.

■ Bishop Gorman 13, Sierra Vista 0 — At Gorman, Cadyn Grenier went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and four RBIs as the Gaels routed the Mountain Lions in five innings.

Michael Blasko was 3-for-4 with a triple and an RBI, and Kenny Meimerstorf went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for Gorman. Jerrel Latham and Matt Judd combined on a three-hitter for Gorman.

DIVISION I-A SOUTHERN REGION

■ Chaparral 5, Western 2 — At Western, Zach Harman hit a three-run home run in the top of the seventh to break a 2-2 tie and give the Cowboys the victory.

Eduardo Jimenez hit a solo homer in the fourth to put the Cowboys up 2-0.

Western tied it in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run, two-out double by Ryan Garbowski, who went 2-for-4.

■ Faith Lutheran 5, Tech 0 — At Faith Lutheran, Brandon Johnson struck out six and allowed just one hit over six innings as the Crusaders shut out the Roadrunners.

Tyler Trageton went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for Faith Lutheran.

■ Moapa Valley 10, Pahrump Valley 2 — At Overton, Kasen Hughes went 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs to help power the Pirates past the Trojans.

■ Boulder City 7, Cheyenne 2 — At Boulder City, Tanner Howell was 2-for-3 with three RBIs to lead the Eagles past the Desert Shields.

Peyton Koopman was 2-for-3 with a triple, a run and an RBI, and he allowed an unearned run on four hits in six innings to get the win.