Nine-run eighth dooms Liberty

Liberty’s American Legion baseball team fell behind early, then gave up nine runs in the eighth inning Saturday as Petaluma (Calif.) routed the Patriots 18-4 in the American Legion Western Regional in Surprise, Ariz.

Liberty (31-4) dropped to 2-1 in the tournament and will play League City (Texas) at 4 p.m. today in an elimination game. Petaluma plays Tucson (Ariz.) at 7.

Petaluma used a five-run second inning to take a 7-0 lead before Liberty rallied and appeared ready to make it a game. The Patriots scored two runs in the third on an RBI groundout by Jesse Keiser and an RBI single by Michael Vargas.

Liberty scored two runs in the fourth to cut the lead to 8-4. Ethan Ibarra reached on an error to start the inning and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Preston Pavlica. Keiser then singled home Griffin Kelly to make the score 8-4.

But Petaluma added a run in the sixth, then exploded for nine runs in the eighth to pull away. Chase Stafford’s three-run double to right field highlighted the big inning, and Petaluma had seven hits in the frame.

Liberty didn’t score in the bottom of the inning, and the game ended because of the 10-run rule.

Blake Patrick was 4-for-6 with two triples and two RBIs to lead Petaluma’s 22-hit attack. Robert Busse was 3-for-6 with four RBIs, and Stafford and Charles Parnow each had three hits.