Print edition: 
Patrick Shreve was ready to deal. Eddie Arroyo was ready to steal.
Put the two together? That's how you jump-start an 8-0 victory for the Liberal Bee Jays over Arvada (Colo.) PlayBall Sports at the NBC World Series on Tuesday night. The win pushed Liberal to 2-0 in the NBC and they won't play again until Saturday.
"The thing about our team is we've got a lot of older guys, a lot of juniors and seniors," Liberal manager Chris Joblin said. "So when they get on this stage it's no big deal to them, they just come out and they're ready to play."
Shreve pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings, struck out nine and gave up three hits for the win.
" (Shreve) is such a polished pitcher... he's so adaptable and you could see that today," Joblin said. "He's been awesome for us all year and tonight was a continuation of that."
Brent Harrison came on in relief for the save, keeping the shutout intact.
"I'm more of a contact-type pitcher... I like to throw three strikes to whoever is up and go from there," said Shreve, a 6-foot-5, 185-pound junior from Nicholls State. "I got deep into some counts today, which is unusual for me. I was surprised when I heard I had nine strikeouts because that's not really my game."
Arroyo went just 1 for 4, but scored three runs and stole three bases, changing the game early with his aggressiveness on the basepaths. He opened the bottom of the first with a leadoff single, adavanced to second on a walk, stole third then came home to make the score 1-0 on a sacrifice fly from Blake Bergeron.
In the third inning, the junior from Northwood (Texas) reached on a walk, stole second and third then scored on a two-RBI single by J.T. Bean as the Bee Jays went up 3-0. Liberal added another run in the inning on an RBI single from Miles Silverstein.
"I felt kind of fast today," Arroyo said, smiling. "I knew I wanted to be aggressive early to try and make something happen for my team. We pretty much dominated from the start."
Joblin said Arroyo has had the green light on the basepaths pretty much all summer.
"First off, he's really, really fast," Joblin said. "And on top of that, he's so good at reading the pitchers and what they're going to do that we've kind of just let him loose all season. He's got free reign as to when he wants to run."
Bergeron's RBI single in the sixth brought home Arroyo to make it 5-0 and Liberal added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth for the run-rule victory.
Missouri State's Chris Bonk was the losing pitcher for PlayBall Sports, which plays again Friday. Bonk last just 2 1/3 innings, giving up four hits, four earned runs and walking three.
