Baseball Game Preview: Verdugo Hills Dons vs. Palisades Dolphins

Verdugo Hills is on a three-game streak of home wins, while Palisades is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Dons will be taking part in a tournament against the Dolphins at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday.

Verdugo Hills is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering South Gate just ended the team's six-game winning streak on Monday. They fell 6-2 to the Rams. Having soared to a lofty 11 runs in the game before, the Dons couldn't push the score so high this time.

Meanwhile, Palisades got the win against Taft on Tuesday by a conclusive 13-2. Considering the Dolphins have won six games by more than five runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.

Caleb Gitlin made a splash no matter where he played. He pitched five innings while giving up just two earned runs off three hits. Gitlin was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

In other batting news, Roman Hawk was incredible, firing off two home runs, six RBI, and three runs while going 4-for-5. Those two home runs gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Logan Bailey, who scored a run and stole two bases while going 3-for-3.

Palisades hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. The team has now struck out at least five batters in seven consecutive matches.

Palisades is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 11-6 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.5 runs on average over those games. As for Verdugo Hills, their loss dropped their record down to 7-12.