Houston’s Brad Pounds, representing the tying run, was tagged out at the plate for the final out of Liberty’s 4-3 victory Thursday afternoon.
With Houston trailing 4-2 and a pair of runners in scoring position in the bottom of seventh inning, David Weybright hit a hard grounder between short and third. Weybright beat the throw to third as Eli Smith trotted home. The ball briefly squirted loose from the first baseman and Pounds, who was on second base, rounded third and headed home.
Pounds stumbled as he neared home plate, fell to the ground and was tagged out just inches away from tying the game.
Houston managed just four hits against Liberty’s Ethan Taylor, who retired 12 batters in a row during a solid stretch in the middle innings. Taylor walked two and struck out two.
Kyle Poynter had a pair of hits for the Tigers, who Liberty 10-0 in five innings March 26. Weybright and David Foster had Houston’s only other hits.
Chris Mooney gave up six hits and four runs in the complete-game loss. He struck out six and walked three.
Liberty 101 000 2 – 4 6 1
Houston 100 001 1 – 3 4 2
LIBERTY – Sharp ss 3-2-2-0. Young 3b 4-0-0-0. Taylor p 4-0-3-2. Robertson c 4-0-0-0. Conn 1b 2-0-0-0. Thomas dh 2-0-1-0. Williams cf 1-1-0-0. Martin rf 2-1-0-0. Zitter 2b 3-0-0-0. Totals 25-4-6-2.
HOUSTON – Weybright cf 3-1-1-1. Mooney p 3-0-0-0. CSmith c 2-1-0-1. KyPoynter ss 3-0-2-1. Knetzer 1b 3-0-0-0. ESmith 3b 2-1-0-0. KaPoynter 2b 3-0-0-0. Foster lf 3-0-1-0. Pounds dh 2-0-0-0. Totals 24-3-4-3.
2B: Sharp, Taylor. SB: Taylor, Martin, Weybright, KyPoynter, Pounds. CS: Taylor.
Liberty ip h r er bb so
Taylor, W 7 4 3 3 2 2
Houston ip h r er bb so
Mooney, L 7 6 4 4 3 6