Sims fans Rolando to earn measure of revenge for Liberty baseball team in 2-1 victory over Unity

LIBERTY, Ill.  — Unity infielder Carter Rolando broke the Liberty baseball team’s heart on April 9.

Jackson Sims made sure Rolando didn’t do it again on Friday.

A little more than two weeks after delivering a walk-off single in the 10th inning of a 2-1 Mustangs victory, Rolando again stepped to the plate in a tight game in the final inning on Friday. He dug in against Sims with runners on first and second and two outs in the top of the seventh with the Eagles leading 2-1.

After missing the strike zone with the first pitch, Sims came back to strike out Rolando and turn the tables on the Mustangs in another 2-1 decision.

That strikeout was Sims’ 14th of the game and capped a complete game in which he gave up five hits, no earned runs and walked just one.

The Eagles scored both of their runs on sacrifice flies in the fourth, one by Reed Sparrow and another by Gavin Edgar. Miles Moulton delivered a two-out RBI single in the top of the fifth to trim the Eagles’ lead in half.

The Mustangs got runners to second and third with one out in the sixth, but Sims fanned Skylor Goudschaal and Brym Parrish to end the inning.

The Eagles (10-6) have won three of their last four games, and each of those victories have been by one run. Six of Liberty’s 16 games have been decided by one run, and another four were two- or three-run contests. The Eagles will hit the road to take on Astoria/VIT on May 1.

Unity (10-6) dropped its first game since April 14 after having won four in a row. The Mustangs play host to Quincy Notre Dame on Monday before traveling to Carthage for a date with Illini West on Tuesday.