Baseball Game Preview: Palo Verde Valley Yellow Jackets vs. Ramona Bulldogs

The Palo Verde Valley Yellow Jackets will head out to face off against the Ramona Bulldogs at 3:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Palo Verde Valley is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They had just enough and edged out Central 8-7.

Drew Wright made a big impact no matter where he played. On the mound, he pitched three innings while giving up just two earned runs off two hits. Wright was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with two runs and one double.

Wright wasn't the only one making solid contact as seven players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Aiden Cano, who went 1-for-4 with one triple and one run. Another was Kole White, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two RBI and one run.

Meanwhile, Ramona entered their tilt with Olympian on Wednesday with eight consecutive wins, and they'll enter their next game with nine. They came out on top against the Eagles by a score of 7-3. Seven seems to be a good number for the Bulldogs as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Jakob Coxen tossed a big game, pitching six innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off five hits.

On the hitting side, Derek Taylor was a standout: he got on base in two of his four plate appearances with two stolen bases and two runs. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last three times he's played. Colton Simpson also deserves some recognition as he scored his first run of the season.

Ramona was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .429. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive games.

Ramona's win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 20-7. The home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.6 runs over those games. As for Palo Verde Valley, their win ended a six-game drought at home and bumped them up to 15-12-1.