Baseball Game Preview: Wickenburg Wranglers vs. Chandler Prep Titans

The Wickenburg Wranglers will head out on the road to square off against the Chandler Prep Titans at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Wickenburg barely beat Kingman Academy the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Wranglers put the hurt on the Tigers with a sharp 14-1 win on Friday. The Wranglers have beaten the Tigers the last three times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Tigers has come to flipping the script.

Zane Echols was a major factor no matter where he played. He struck out seven batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits (and only one walk). Those seven strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 2-for-3.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Larry Wilcox, who scored three runs and stole two bases while going 3-for-4. He continues to improve, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Hazen Jones, who scored two runs while going 2-for-4.

Meanwhile, Chandler Prep never let their opponents score on Friday. They were the clear victors by a 10-0 margin over St. John Paul II Catholic. Winning may never get old, but the Titans sure are getting used to it with their third in a row.

Chandler Prep let Emet Yates and Derek Tucker run wild. Yates scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-2, while Tucker scored two runs and stole two bases while going 1-for-3. Tucker has become a key player for Chandler Prep: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 2-4 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Henry Allen, who scored a run while going 1-for-2.

Chandler Prep was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .435. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .417 or higher in three consecutive games.

Chandler Prep pushed their record up to 10-4 with the victory, which was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season. Those home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 14.0 runs over those games. As for Wickenburg, they now have a winning record of 8-7.