Preview: Cienega Bobcats vs. Ironwood Ridge Nighthawks
The Cienega Bobcats will head out on the road to challenge the Ironwood Ridge Nighthawks at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Ironwood Ridge took a loss in their last game and will be looking to turn the tables on Cienega, who comes in off a win.
Cienega stacked a fifth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Thursday. Everything went their way against Mountain View as Cienega made off with a 7-1 win. The victory was just what Cienega needed coming off of an 11-1 loss in their prior matchup.
Joey Staiger spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned run on three hits and racked up eight Ks. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in four consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Cienega got a big performance out of Lute Chavez, who scored a run and stole three bases while going 2-for-3. Nano Lopez was another key contributor, scoring two runs and stealing two bases while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, Ironwood Ridge didn't have quite enough to beat Sahuaro on Friday and fell 4-2. Ironwood Ridge has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Cienega has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 11-4 record this season. As for Ironwood Ridge, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-10.
Cienega was able to grind out a solid win over Ironwood Ridge when the teams last played back in March of 2023, winning 7-4. The rematch might be a little tougher for Cienega since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
