Mark Carlisle

West Valley Preps

TEMPE — A bases-loaded triple from Jacob Robson and another solid start from Matthew Liberatore pushed Mountain Ridge past two-time defending state Chandler Hamilton 5-1 Friday at Tempe Diablo Stadium in the third round of the 6A playoffs.

“I’ve been saying since day one, we’re going to pitch it well and we’re going to play defense,” said Mountain Ridge coach Artie Cox. “And when we get some offensive productivity, and that’s what we’re getting lately, it makes things easier on our pitching staff, for sure.”

The Mountain Lions (20-9-1, 8-2) are now two wins away from a 6A title. They remain in the winner’s bracket in the double-elimination tournament and advance to play at 4 p.m. May 11. They will face the winner of No. 8 Hamilton (19-11, 4-4), and top-seeded Mesa Mountain View (23-7, 9-1).

Liberatore, a projected top-10 pick in June’s Major League Baseball draft, was locked in a pitcher’s duel with Hamilton’s junior lefty Shane Murphy for the first four innings Friday, until the Lion offense broke out in the fifth.

A bloop single and back-to-back walks on eight straight balls from Murphy loaded the bases for Robson, and the senior laced a line drive that carried over the center fielder’s head to roll to the wall and score all three runners.

Robson rose from his slide into third with a victorious yell toward the Mountain Ridge third-base dugout, which had just erupted.

“I’ve never been happier in my life, honestly. That was probably the biggest hit of my life,” Robson said. “Just overwhelming about of emotion — something I’d never felt before.”

Senior Preston Godfrey followed with his second triple of the day, a fly that dropped a foot inside the right-field line, to extend the lead to 5-1.

Liberatore had a shaky third but was locked in afterward, earning eight of his 11 strikeouts in the last four innings.

“I feel like I get stronger as I go,” Liberatore said. “I start finding my pitches, my mechanics start really becoming consistent and everything starts working for me at the end of the game.”

The senior southpaw was an out short of a complete game. He had one earned run, allowed two hits and three walks.

Cox pulled his ace after a two-out, nine-pitch walk in the seventh put him over the 105-pitch mark, the AIA limit for juniors and seniors.

Sophomore Zack Rogers struck out the only batter he faced to finish the win. Liberatore was frustrated he passed the pitch cap, saying he wanted to finish the complete game.

“I was not happy to see my coach walking out, but you know Zach Rogers came in behind me, and he’s always got my back,” he said.

Hamilton’s top hitter, sophomore Michael Bruesser, had the Huskies only two hits off Liberatore, both singles, and drove in the only run.

Liberatore needed 31 pitches to get out of the third. He walked two batters in a row and then a single from Bruesser drove in the Huskies’ lone run.

Cox said Liberatore was having trouble locating his off-speed pitch during the inning.

“Normally, he can throw any pitch for a strike, and he wasn’t able to do that. He was relying on his fastball, and they were able to sit on it,” Cox said. “Then he established the off-speed and that’s what changed everything.”

After the third, Liberatore talked to his pitching coaches to make adjustments and regain control of his off-speed pitch. The results were clear. The only base runners that reached over his final 3 2/3 innings were on an error and a hard-earned walk.

The third might have been worse for Mountain Ridge, but Liberatore snagged a hard-hit comebacker with runners on the move from second and third with two outs. Had the hit gone through the infield, it would have scored at least one to give Hamilton the lead.

“The kid’s very tough,” Hamilton coach Mike Woods said of Liberatore. “So, you’ve got to take advantage of your chances when you get them, and we had a few and we got one across, but in the end, he was better tonight.”

The Hamilton coaching staff made two mound visits to Murphy during his rough fifth inning — once after the back-to-back walks and once after the back-to-back triples — but Woods decided to stick with his starter and leave Murphy in.

“Maybe he got a little tired, I don’t know, but he’s our guy and it was his game and that’s why I left him out there,” Woods said.

Murphy settled in to get the final two outs and strand Godfrey at third. Senior Tyler Dubuque replaced him for the sixth.

Mountain Ridge had four triples from its two through four hitters in the lineup: senior Jason Harayda hit one, Robson hit one and Godfrey hit two. The Mountain Lions outhit the Huskies 8-2.

This is the deepest Mountain Ridge has gotten in the playoffs since it lost to Hamilton 12-3 in the 2016 Division I championship game. Liberatore started as a sophomore in that game, allowing three earned runs over two innings.

Last year, Mountain Ridge lost its first two playoff games for an early exit in the double-elimination tournament.

“It’s as good as winning any other game,” Liberatore said after topping Hamilton this time. “It puts us one step closer to our ultimate goal, so I’m super happy about it.”