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Mario Mattivi came to the rescue Tuesday night at Rawlings Field.

Mattivi threw into the eighth inning to lead the Pueblo Toyota semipro baseball team to a 10-9 victory over the Liberal (Kan.) BJs in the final game of a two-game non-league series.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Toyota, which has been in turmoil over the past few days. Head coach Lauro Felix was relieved from his duties by Runyon Field director Dave Dudley for violating Runyon Field program rules and policies.

This past Sunday, pitching coach Brice Bisel stepped in to coach the team, which was swept by Walker Transmission in a doubleheader. Monday, Wayne Pechek was called on to become the interim manager for the rest of the season.

He showed up in the middle of Monday's game, which won by the BJs 16-4. "I came in the second or third inning last night," Pechek said. "I had to work an overtime shift at the fire department. When I got there in the second they were down a touchdown. There wasn't any coaching. These guys didn't even know who I was when I walked in. I just observed."

Pechek watched again Tuesday with Mattivi throwing up zeroes and an offense that erupted for 15 hits, led by four singles from shortstop Mark Sayas.

Mattivi gave up only one earned run through seven innings. He pounded the zone was a live fastball and got ahead of the Liberal hitters consistently.

"They are almost all Division I players," Mattivi said of the talented Kanas lineup. "Our guys came out and played well. I didn't do it all. They helped me out.

"I just threw first-pitch strikes. If I fell behind, I tried to get back on top. That team competes at the national level and it was good to beat them. It showed us we can play at a high level. We just turned it around tonight."

Mattivi's effort nearly went for naught as Liberal rallied in the late innings to nearly overtake Toyota.

The BJs pushed across four runs in the eight to chop the lead to 10-6. Then, Liberal came within an eyelash of tying the game in the ninth.

With the bases loaded and one out, Steven Tucker drove a pitch from Pueblo closer Wes Oliver that hit the top of the centerfield wall. But only one run scored and Toyota managed to catch a break when a baserunning blunder turned into an out. Bren Schuehler made it a 10-9 game with a two-run single before Jeremiah Sammy hit into a fielder's choice to end the game.

Liberal manager Mike Hargrove, a former major league manager with the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers, was impressed with Toyota and Mattivi in particular.

"Their pitcher (Mattivi) threw the ball well," Hargrove said. "He kept the ball down and threw strikes and made some good pitches when he had to. We hit some balls hard. We made a game of it so it wasn't a lost night.

"We didn't play particularly well the first five innings. We played like we can the last four. I'm not taking anything away from Pueblo because they played well."

Hargrove went on to say that he's enjoying coaching at the college level.

"I enjoy it. The kids play hard," he said. "Obviously, the level of talent is different than the big leagues. There are some talented kids and it's fun to watch people be successful no matter where you're at."

Toyota, now 13-6-1 overall, returns to Rocky Mountain Baseball League action at 5 p.m. Thursday when it travels to Regis for a single game.

Pueblo Toyota 10, Liberal BJs 9

Liberal	0	0	1		0	0	1		0	4	3	-	9	13	1
Toyota	2	0	6		0	2	0		0	0	X	-	10	15	3

Powers, Birds (3), Wagner (8) and Burgess; Mattivi, Chavez (8), Oliver (9) and Pechek. WP-Mattivi (4-0). LP-Powers.