Basha's Cam LaLiberte (19) carries his bat to the dugout after 5th-inning HR. (AzPreps365 photo)

Basha produced hits in every inning but one Thursday, but it took two-out, extra-base hits to plate most of its runs as the Bears held off Dobson late to record a 4-2 victory in a 6A non-region baseball game at Dobson.

Basha's Cam LaLiberte homered, tripled and drove in two runs as the Bears recovered from a 6-4 loss to Desert Mountain Tuesday after winning the Horizon Invitational during spring break. Basha collected 10 hits but if not for LaLiberte and an RBI triple in the fourth by Ty Siffermann the Bears would have been limited to a run. All of Basha's run-scoring hits came with two outs.

"Cam came up huge and carried us on his back at the plate," Basha coach Jim Schilling said. "We feel like our top six guys can bop it. Their pitcher did a nice job and frustrated us some. Dobson is scrappy and they are out there to compete."

Basha improved to 12-5 overall and 5-2 in power-ranking games. Dobson, which picked up an 8-4 win on Tuesday over Maryvale, is now 6-10, 2-5.

Dobson starter -- sophomore Keke Romero-Miranda -- scattered eight hits and allowed three runs in five innings of work. A fielder's choice grounder in the second tallied Basha's first run. Sifferman's two-out triple in the fourth made it 2-0. LaLiberte homered on a 3-2 pitch in the fifth - a healhty blast to left field. LaLiberte plugged the right-centerfield gap with his triple in the seventh off reliever Daniel James.

Basha started junior righty Jonathan Weiss and Weiss responded with five innings of three-hit, shutout ball. Reliever Dalin Baldwin took over and pitched into the seventh when Dobson made a bid to tie the game.

Back-to-back pinch-hits by Jake Owens and Deion Arviso greeted Baldwin in the seventh. A swinging bunt moved the runners up base for an out. A wild pitch and grounder to short scooted under Siffermann's glove and suddenly Dobson was within 4-2 and had the tying run at the plate. Trevor Neilson singled to right, putting the tying run on and the winning run at bat.

Basha called on sophomore Blake Berrett to close after that and Berrett responded as well as a pitcher can be expected by striking out the two hitters he faced.

Dobson coach John Miklus, in his fourth year guiding the Mustangs, continues to see the program improve. The Mustangs won only three games in his first season in 2015, seven in 2016 and 13 last year.  

"The guys we had hit in the seventh kind of have that role," Miklus said. "Our sophomore did a good job, and he's just learning. We're trying to stress to our pitchers conditioning and arm care. We want to show we will compete every game. Proud of the effort today."