The Boulder Creek Jaguars will head out to take on the Mesa Jackrabbits at 3:45 p.m. on Friday. Boulder Creek will be strutting in after a victory while Mesa will be coming in after a defeat.
Boulder Creek is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They blew past Camelback 15-0 on Tuesday. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest win of the season.
Chase Lile
| 02/27/25 vs Red Mountain | 6 |
| 03/25/25 vs O'Connor | 4 |
| 03/04/25 @ Cibola | 4 |
| 04/01/25 vs Mountain Ridge | 2 |
| 03/18/25 vs Putnam City | 2 |
Chase Lile looked comfortable as he struck out six batters over two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and not a single walk). He also tossed no walks, which is notable because Boulder Creek is 2-1 when he allows at most two walks, but 3-11 otherwise.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Matt Nicolosi, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with two runs, one triple, and one RBI. Jake Parks was another key player, scoring a run while going 1-for-2.
Boulder Creek hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their strikeout total in four consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Mesa fought the good fight in their extra-innings contest against Dobson on Thursday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took an 8-3 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Mustangs.
Mesa saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Anthony Ruelas, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with one stolen base and one RBI. Another was Sam Babalola, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-4.
Mesa has traveled a rocky road recently, having lost seven of their last eight games. That's put a noticeable dent in their 3-15 record this season. As for Boulder Creek, with the victory, they broke their four-game losing streak and moved their record to 5-12.
Everything went Boulder Creek's way against Mesa in their previous meeting back in February of 2024, as Boulder Creek made off with a 10-2 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Jaguars since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
