Three hits usually won’t get you very far, but the Puerto Rico Warriors made the most of theirs Sunday. Puerto Rico had just two singles and a double but managed to scratch out a 4-1 victory over the Michigan Storm Maroons in the semifinal of the AABC (14u) Sandy Koufax World Series at Surprise Stadium.

Michigan’s Evan Granger took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, but his offense couldn’t back him up against the strong Puerto Rico pitching duo of lefty Gerardo Feliciano and righty Jean Garcia. The two combined to allow just four hits in seven innings, striking out five in a game that had the looks of a pitching duel from the beginning.

Michigan actually struck first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth on a single to center by Gavin Porter that brought in Nate Schneider from second. And with the way Granger was pitching, that looked like it might be enough.

But Puerto Rico tied the score in the bottom of the inning, doing so while keeping Granger’s no-hit bid intact. Joseph Monge was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a sacrifice, then took third on a wild pitch. José Pérez drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left, evening things up at 1-1.

After Kenneth Rodriguez reached base on a Michigan error to open up the bottom of the fifth, Bryan Suarez broke up the no-hitter and gave Puerto Rico the lead with one swing of the bat, lining a single up the middle that scored Rodriguez.

Puerto Rico coach Juan Correa said even though his team’s bats got off to a slow start, the players were still having quality at-bats and were therefore eventually able to break through.

“My kids are very resilient,” Correa said. “They play with heart.”

After scoring the go-ahead run the previous inning, Rodriguez came up big again in the bottom of the sixth, smashing a two-run double to the gap in right-center that gave Puerto Rico a 4-1 cushion and paved the way for Garcia to shut the door on Michigan in the seventh.

With the win, Puerto Rico advanced to the championship game against Arizona, a team that had already beaten the Warriors 12-4 earlier in the tournament. Correa said defensive mishaps were to blame for that loss and he expected a different story in the final.

“We only had one bad inning,” Correa said. “The game was 4-4 in the fourth inning and we made three errors that cost us eight runs, and that was the turning point of the game. I know that if we play defense, have good situational hitting and throw strikes, we can beat them.”