Baseball Preview: Glendale Prep Academy Griffins vs. Phoenix Christian Cougars
Glendale Prep Academy is 0-5 against Phoenix Christian since April of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Glendale Prep Academy Griffins will head out on the road to challenge the Phoenix Christian Cougars at 3:45 p.m. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Glendale Prep Academy sitting on five straight victories and Phoenix Christian on 13.
Glendale Prep Academy can now show off four landslide victories after their most recent match on Wednesday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Santa Cruz Valley a 10-0 shutout.
Logan Middendorf made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He didn't allow a single earned run and only two hits while striking out eight over five innings pitched. Middendorf has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't tossed less than eight strikeouts in six consecutive pitching appearances. Middendorf was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-2.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Josiah Simms, who went 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBI, and two runs. Alex Rodriguez was another key contributor, scoring two runs and stealing three bases while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, Phoenix Christian sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 5-4 win over Arizona Lutheran Academy on Monday.
The team relied heavily on Xavier Gutierrez, who scored two runs and stole two bases while getting on base in two of his three plate appearances.
Glendale Prep Academy pushed their record up to 6-6-1 with that victory, which was their third straight at home. Those good results were due in large part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.7 runs per game. As for Phoenix Christian, their win bumped their record up to 17-1.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. Glendale Prep Academy has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9.6 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Phoenix Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.9. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Glendale Prep Academy might still be hurting after the 11-4 defeat they got from Phoenix Christian when the teams last played back in March. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Gutierrez, who pitched 5.2 innings while giving up just two earned (and two unearned) runs off three hits. Now that Glendale Prep Academy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
