The Hope Christian Huskies will head out on the road to square off against the West Mesa Mustangs at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.
West Mesa will be up against a hot Hope Christian squad: the team just extended their winning streak to four. Everything went Hope Christian's way against East Mountain on Tuesday as Hope Christian made off with a 10-3 victory.
Avery Dearholt
| 03/04/25 vs East Mountain | 6 |
| 02/28/25 vs Belen | 5 |
| 04/20/24 @ Atrisco Heritage Academy | 4 |
| 05/10/24 vs Bernalillo | 2 |
| 05/11/24 vs Bernalillo | 1 |
Avery Dearholt looked comfortable as he didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over four innings pitched. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in strikeouts.
At the plate, Trey Baillio and Keegan Johnson did most of the damage at the plate: Baillio went 2-for-3 with one home run, one triple, and two RBI, while Johnson scored two runs while going 3-for-4. That's the most hits Baillio has posted since back in April of 2024. Porter Chastain was another key player, scoring a run while going 2-for-3.
Hope Christian always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .545. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as East Mountain only posted an OBP of .394.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask West Mesa). They blew past Del Norte 22-3 on Tuesday. The Mustangs haven't had any issues with the Knights recently, as the game was their sixth consecutive win against them.
Armoni Baca was a major factor no matter where he played. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out six over four innings pitched. Baca was also big at the plate, scoring four runs and stealing a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. He is becoming a predictor of West Mesa's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is 2-1 (and 0-3 when he doesn't).
In other batting news, Ayden Gonzales was a standout: he scored three runs while going 1-for-2. Another player making a difference was Daniel Rodriguez, who went 1-for-4 with three runs and one triple.
Hope Christian's victory bumped their record up to 4-0. As for West Mesa, the win was their first at home , bumping their record up to 2-4.
West Mesa's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Thursday. Hope Christian has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.2 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for West Mesa, though, as they've been averaging only 4.2 strikeouts. Will Hope Christian keep running through batters, or will West Mesa buck the trend?
Hope Christian beat West Mesa 7-2 in their previous matchup back in March of 2018. Does Hope Christian have another victory up their sleeve, or will West Mesa turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
