Baseball Recap: Bentley Comes Up Short

Bentley had lost eight straight on the road dating back to last season, but on Tuesday they dropped their record down to 0-8 to make it nine. They fell just short of the Valley Christian Vikings by a score of 6-5. The Phoenix were given a dose of their own medicine in this game as the Vikings apparently hadn't forgotten their defeat the last time these teams played back in May of 2024.

As for Valley Christian, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games. That's provided a nice bump to their 7-5 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.0 runs over those games.

For Valley Christian's part, Ansh Codavalli and Devon Shunn made a splash no matter where they played. On the mound, Codavalli struck out seven batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and only one walk). Meanwhile, Shunn didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out eight over four innings pitched. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in March. At the plate, Codavalli got on base in all four of his plate appearances with three stolen bases, one run, and one RBI, while Shunn went 2-for-4 with three RBI, one triple, and one stolen base. Codavalli is becoming a predictor of Valley Christian's success: when he posts at least two stolen bases the team is undefeated (and 4-5 when he doesn't).

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Tommy Perryman, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with five stolen bases and three runs. Those five stolen bases gave him a new career-high.

The teams didn't have to wait long for a rematch: Valley Christian beat Bentley by a score of 7-0 on Friday.