Baseball Recap: Five Straight Home Victories for Palm Desert

There's no place like home for Palm Desert, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Saturday. They came out on top against the La Quinta Blackhawks by a score of 9-4 on Tuesday. The Aztecs haven't had any issues with the Blackhawks recently, as the game was their third consecutive victory against them.

Zach Gibbs made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he struck out eight batters over seven innings while giving up four earned runs off six hits. He has been consistent : he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in five consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, going 1-for-4 with one triple, two RBI, and one run. That triple was his first of the season.

In other batting news, Stevie Hutchinson and Mateo Harvey-Olivo did most of the damage at the plate: Hutchinson scored a run while going 2-for-4, while Harvey-Olivo scored a run while going 2-for-3. Another player making a difference was Sebastian Morales, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-3.

Palm Desert was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .385. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as La Quinta only posted a batting average of .179.

Aztecs

Previous 5 Games (Home)

04/01/25 vs La Quinta	9-4
03/26/25 vs Palm Springs	10-0
03/18/25 vs Shadow Hills	4-1
03/12/25 vs Rancho Mirage	2-1
03/04/25 vs La Quinta	3-2

Palm Desert's win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-4. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.6 runs on average over those games. As for La Quinta, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 8-7.

Palm Desert and La Quinta should be looking forward to their upcoming games as both have a sizable advantage in the MaxPreps California Rankings. The Aztecs (ranked 105th) will meet Rancho Mirage (ranked 380th) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Palm Desert 3.1, the Rattlers 2.8) so any runs scored will be well earned. Meanwhile, La Quinta will square off against Palm Springs at 6:30 p.m. on Friday with a big rank advantage (247 vs. 788).