Baseball Game Preview: Summit Shasta Black Bears vs. North Valley Baptist Bulldogs

Summit Shasta has gone a perfect 8-0 against North Valley Baptist recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Black Bears will be playing in front of their home fans against the Bulldogs at 4:00 p.m. Summit Shasta is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.5 runs per game this season.

Having struggled with five losses in a row, Summit Shasta turned things around against KIPP San Jose Collegiate on Tuesday. They were the clear victors by a 12-1 margin over the Wolfpack. The Black Bears might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won eight contests by ten runs or more this season.

Juan Miguel Rojas made a big impact no matter where he played. He didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out 14 over five innings pitched. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Summit Shasta is 4-2 when he allows at most one earned run, but 8-10 otherwise. Rojas was also big at the plate, going 1-for-4 with three RBI and one double. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in May of 2024.

Jalen Mingao

Stolen Base

05/13/25 @ KIPP San Jose Collegiate	4
05/06/25 vs Design Tech	2
04/22/25 @ North Valley Baptist	2
03/28/25 vs Summit Tahoma	2
03/29/25 @ Monta Vista	1
+ 3 more games

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Jalen Mingao, who went 1-for-4 with four stolen bases, three runs, and one RBI. He has become a key player for Summit Shasta: the team is 3-1 when he posts at least two stolen bases, but 9-11 otherwise. Maxwell Espinola was another key player, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs and one stolen base.

Meanwhile, North Valley Baptist was not able to break out of their rough patch last Tuesday as the team picked up their seventh straight defeat. They came up short against Pinewood, falling 11-1. Having soared to a lofty ten runs in the game before, the Bulldogs couldn't push the score so high this time.

The victory got Summit Shasta back to even at 12-12. As for North Valley Baptist, their loss dropped their record down to 4-7.

Summit Shasta beat North Valley Baptist 8-5 in their previous matchup back in April. Will the Black Bears repeat their success, or do the Bulldogs have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.