Baseball Game Preview: Desert Ridge Jaguars vs. Highland Hawks

Desert Ridge and Highland are an even 5-5 against one another since April of 2019, but likely not for long. The Jaguars will be playing in front of their home fans against the Hawks at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday. The timing is sure in Desert Ridge's favor as the team sits on three straight wins at home while Highland has been banged up by three consecutive losses on the road.

On Wednesday, Desert Ridge got the win against Sunrise Mountain by a conclusive 13-1. With that victory, the Jaguars brought their scoring average up to 6.2 runs per game.

Desert Ridge got a great performance from Andrew Bromley as he pitched five innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. Bromley has become a key player for the Jaguars: the team is 2-1 when he allows at most one earned run, but 6-13 otherwise.

Kelton Floan

Hits (Career)

04/16/25 vs Sunrise Mountain	4
04/14/25 @ Highland	3
03/04/25 vs Campo Verde	3
02/28/25 vs Basha	3
03/13/25 vs Mountain View	2

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Kelton Floan, who scored three runs and stole a base while going 4-for-4. Those four hits gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Max Abalos, who went 2-for-3 with four RBI, one run, and one double.

Desert Ridge was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .409. They are a perfect 3-0 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.

Meanwhile, Highland came up short against Desert Ridge on Monday and fell 4-1.

Desert Ridge is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests. That's provided a massive bump to their 8-14 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Highland, their defeat dropped their record down to 12-10.

Desert Ridge was able to grind out a solid victory over Highland in their previous meeting on Monday, winning 4-1. Will the Jaguars repeat their success, or do the Hawks have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.