Merced Volunteers fall short in state championship game as Petaluma repeats.

The Merced Volunteers bid for a state championship fell short as Petaluma swept two games on Monday to repeat as the American Legion state champions.

The Leghorns came back from a four-run deficit in the first game to win 8-7. Petaluma then finished the two-game sweep with an 8-3 win in the second game.

Petaluma will advance to the Western Regional in Fairfield on Aug. 7.

The Volunteers (18-13-1) had put themselves in great position to win the tournament after winning their first three games and had one of their top pitchers Clayton Hall saved to start the championship game.

The Volunteers jumped out to a 5-1 lead after a four-run third inning. R.J. Garcia drew a bases-loaded walk to push across the first run of the inning. Joe Flores followed with an RBI single and then Daneil Urestes added a two-run single for the 5-1 lead.

Petaluma answered with two runs in the bottom of the third and then chased Hall from the game with four runs in the fifth to take a 7-5 lead.

Jaret Mello and Brandon Ruiz delivered back-to-back RBI singles with two outs in the sixth inning to pull Merced even at 7-7. The Leghorns ansewerd with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth and closed out the win.

Kadon Floro had three hits and scored two runs in the first game. Ruiz and Hall both had two hits.

Nick Kamages pitched into the seventh inning to pick up the win in the second game, limiting Merced to just three runs.

The Leghorns scored seven runs against Volunteers starter Josh Harris. Petaluma scored two runs in the first and tacked on four runs in the fourth inning to open up a 6-0 lead.

All three of Merced’s runs came in the fifth inning with Floro and Daniel Beaird driving in runs. Both finished with two hits, a run scored and an RBI.

Mark Wolbert had three hits and two runs for Petaluma.

It’s the second year in a row the Volunteers lost to Petaluma in the championship game.

This story was originally published July 29, 2019 at 6:33 PM.