Baseball Game Preview: Henley Hornets vs. Hidden Valley Mustangs

Henley is 8-2 against Hidden Valley since April of 2022 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Wednesday. The Hornets will be playing at home against the Mustangs at 5:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Hidden Valley will square off against a team with plenty of momentum: Henley extended their winning streak to 11 on Saturday. The Hornets put the hurt on Junction City with a sharp 8-2 win.

Mark Carpenter made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 12 batters over six innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off two hits (and not a single walk). He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in eight consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two runs.

In other batting news, Jacoby Tacchini was excellent, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with three RBI. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in April. Another player making a difference was Ryan Douglas, who went 2-for-3 with one run, one double, and one RBI.

Henley was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .417. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .353 or higher in three consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, Hidden Valley waltzed into their matchup on Saturday with two straight wins... but they left with three. Everything went their way against the Vikings as they made off with a 10-1 victory.

Hidden Valley pushed their record up to 12-4 with the win, which was their eighth straight at home. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.6 runs on average over those games. As for Henley, their win bumped their record up to 13-2-1.

Henley was able to grind out a solid victory over Hidden Valley when the teams last played back in April, winning 5-2. Will the Hornets repeat their success, or do the Mustangs have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.