On Wednesday, Liberty faced Palo Verde in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The Liberty Patriots won by a run and slipped past the Palo Verde Panthers 6-5. The win made it back-to-back victories for Liberty.
Nicholas Blakeney looked comfortable as he struck out six batters over 3.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits (and only one walk).
On the hitting side, Liberty saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Shawn Mack, who went 2-for-4 with two runs, a triple, and an RBI.
On Palo Verde's side, Drew Kaplan put in work no matter where he played. On the mound, he struck out six batters over 3.1 innings while giving up no earned run off one hit (and only one walk). Kaplan has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances. Kaplan was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI.
In other pitching news, Mayson Reichartz was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he struck out eight batters over 5.2 innings while giving up four earned (and one unearned) runs off three hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in five consecutive pitching appearances.
Back at the plate, Jace Jefferies made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and scored two runs and stole four bases while going 2-for-4. Tanner Johns was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 1-for-4.
Liberty is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a massive bump to their 13-13 record this season. As for Palo Verde, they have not been sharp recently as the team has lost four of their last five matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 15-10 record this season.
Liberty will have a chance to go back-to-back against Palo Verde: the pair's next game is a rematch scheduled at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
