Baseball Game Preview: Rancho Cotate Cougars vs. Tamalpais Red Tailed Hawks

The Rancho Cotate Cougars will head out on the road to face off against the Tamalpais Red Tailed Hawks at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.

Rancho Cotate is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They skirted past Livermore 12-10. 12 seems to be a good number for the Cougars as the team scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Caden Bolin Percy

Runs Batted In (Career)

05/24/25 @ Livermore	3
04/19/25 @ Kelseyville	2
03/26/25 vs Maria Carrillo	2
03/18/25 vs Maria Carrillo	2
05/21/25 @ Justin-Siena	1

Caden Bolin Percy was incredible, going 4-for-5 with three runs, three RBI, and one stolen base. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Gauge Cummings, who got on base in all five of his plate appearances with three RBI and one run.

They weren't the only ones making solid contact: Rancho Cotate kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 17 hits. They are a perfect 5-0 when they post 11 or more hits.

San Marin typically has all the answers at home, but on Saturday Tamalpais proved too difficult a challenge. Their pitchers stepped up to hand the Mustangs a 1-0 shutout. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Red Tailed Hawks have posted since April 5, 2024.

Hank Ballard looked comfortable as he pitched 1.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He has been consistent for a while: he hasn't given up more than two hits any time he's pitched this season.

At the plate, Tamalpais' win was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Tito Fierstein, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base and one RBI.

The victory made it two in a row for Rancho Cotate and bumps their season record up to 15-12. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 12.0 runs over those games. As for Tamalpais, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 19-8 record this season.

Rancho Cotate couldn't quite finish off Tamalpais in their previous matchup back in February of 2024 and fell 2-0. Can the Cougars avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.