Baseball Game Preview: Copper Hills Grizzlies vs. Mountain Ridge Sentinels

For the second straight game, Copper Hills will face off against Mountain Ridge. The Grizzlies will host the Sentinels at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Copper Hills is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.9 runs per game this season.

Copper Hills is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Utah's top teams: Mountain Ridge, who was ranked fifth at the time (Copper Hills was ranked 24th). The Grizzlies lost 10-0 to the Sentinels on Wednesday. The Grizzlies have struggled against the Sentinels recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive lost matchup.

For Mountain Ridge's part, Karson Fankhauser made a splash while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only one hit over five innings pitched. What's more, Fankhauser posted five strikeouts, the most he's had since back in March. He was also big at the plate, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with one run and one RBI.

In other batting news, Brody Garrard was incredible, going 1-for-3 with one home run and three RBI. Brody Buck was another key player, going 2-for-3 with two RBI.

Mountain Ridge was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .429. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Copper Hills only posted a batting average of .062.

The win (which was Mountain Ridge's third in a row) raised their record to 13-5. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Copper Hills, their loss dropped their record down to 13-7.