Baseball Game Preview: Tamalpais Red-Tailed Hawks vs. Encinal Jets

The Tamalpais Red-Tailed Hawks are taking a road trip to take on the Encinal Jets at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Tamalpais hasn't scored more than two runs for five games straight, a trend the squad is eager to reverse.

Having struggled with six defeats in a row, Tamalpais turned things around against San Rafael on Friday. They never let the Bulldogs get on the board and left with a 2-0 victory. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Red-Tailed Hawks have posted since March 31st.

Hank Ballard

Earned Runs

03/27/26 vs San Marin	9
03/12/26 @ Maria Carrillo	3
04/24/26 vs Novato	2
03/20/26 @ Marin Catholic	2
04/02/26 @ Branson	1

Hank Ballard got the start for Tamalpais and what a start it was: he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out seven over 6.2 innings pitched. Ballard also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because the Red-Tailed Hawks are 4-1 when he allows at most one earned run, but 4-12 otherwise. Aidan Dodge picked up the save, pitching 0.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit.

On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Dara Zolfaghari, who went 1-for-2 with two stolen bases and one run.

Meanwhile, Encinal hadn't done well against Castro Valley recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Thursday. The Jets blew past the Trojans 12-3. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for the Jets considering their two-run performance the contest before.

Evan Furuichi was incredible, going 2-for-4 with one home run and four RBI. Those four RBI gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Matan Antebi, who got on base in four of his five plate appearances with two RBI and one run.

Tamalpais' record is now 8-13. As for Encinal, their record now sits at 15-6.