Battle Mountain is on a four-game streak of home losses dating back to last season, and Eagle Valley an eight-game streak of away losses also dating back to last season. However, someone's due for a change in luck on Saturday. The Battle Mountain Huskies will be playing in front of their home fans against the Eagle Valley Devils at 11:00 a.m. The match will give Battle Mountain their first taste of in-conference action this season.
Battle Mountain saw some tournament action on Saturday. They came up short against Gunnison, falling 13-3.
Kai Tipton made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, Eagle Valley had to endure a three-game losing streak, but that streak is no more. Everything went their way against Weld Central on Friday as they made off with a 9-1 victory. With that win, the Devils brought their scoring average up to 6.3 runs per game.
James Bivins was a major factor while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he pitched 4.1 innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. He is becoming a predictor of Eagle Valley's success: when he allows at most one earned run the team is 2-1 (and 0-4 when he doesn't). Bivins was also big at the plate, going a perfect 1-for-1 with two RBI. Those two RBI gave him a new career-high.
In other batting news, Eagle Valley got a big performance out of Anthony Ehlert, who scored a run and stole two bases while getting on base in two of his three plate appearances. Those two stolen bases gave Ehlert a new career-high. Ozlin Rocha was another key player, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 1-for-1.
Eagle Valley was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .389. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive games.
Eagle Valley's victory bumped their record up to 2-5. As for Battle Mountain, their loss dropped their record down to 5-2.
Battle Mountain came out on top in a nail-biter against Eagle Valley when the teams last played back in April of 2024, sneaking past 5-4. Will the Huskies repeat their success, or do the Devils have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
