The Liberty 14U All-Star Team got a big 10-9 win over EMC National on a hot Saturday afternoon in Splendora in the opening round of the Ranger Baseball Invitational.

The win moves the Liberty bunch into the winners bracket of the six team field.

Blaze Drake got the win on the mound by pitching two innings and allowing only one hit and one run. Drake struck out two. Liberty used the help of four walks and a hit-by-pitch to plate four runs in the first inning in grabbing an early 4-0 lead.

Freddy Mata led things off with a walk and then stole second base and later scored on a wild pitch to make it 1-0. C. J. Crump was then hit by a pitch and also stole second. After a steal of third, Crump scored on the error throw to third to run the lead to 2-0.

After the first out of the inning, Drake walked followed by a walk to Mathew Porche. Both Drake and Porche would score on passed balls to give Liberty a 4-0 lead after one.

EMC then responded with a one in the top of the second frame before Liberty responded with two runs of their own. Wyatt Tulley launched a nice double to get into scoring position and then scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-1. Joshua McCartney followed with a walk and used his speed to quickly steal second and third base. He then scored on another passed ball and it was a 6-1 score.

EMC National then had themselves an inning and scored six runs in the third inning to lead 7-6. The team from Liberty was not fazed and wasted little time in regaining the lead. Mata reached on a walk and stole second base. Mata then stole third and scored onan errand throw to third to tie the game at 7 apiece.

Crump followed with a walk, and after a steal of second base he scored on an RBI single by Ben Reidland to give the Liberty the lead again at 8-7. After Drake walked, both runners pulled a double steal and the throw to third to get Reidland was again aired into left field allowing Reidland to score and Drake to third. Drake then scored on an error by the EMC pitcher to give Liberty a 10-7 lead.

EMC made things close in the top of the fourth inning with a couple of runs before Tulley shut the door on the Liberty win.

See more here:

Liberty 14U nabs 10-9 win over EMC National - Liberty Vindicator