Baseball Game Preview: Standley Lake Gators vs. Dakota Ridge Eagles

The Standley Lake Gators will challenge the Dakota Ridge Eagles at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.

Standley Lake not only won on Wednesday, but they posted their biggest win since May 8, 2024. Everything went their way against George Washington as they made off with a 9-3 victory.

Chris Blanco

Batters Struck Out

04/09/25 vs George Washington	16
03/08/25 vs Steamboat Springs	15
03/12/25 @ Denver East	9
03/28/25 @ Conifer	8

Chris Blanco made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he struck out 16 batters over 6.1 innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. Standley Lake is 3-1 when Blanco posts eight or more strikeouts, but 2-4 otherwise. Blanco was also big at the plate, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3. That's the most runs he has posted since back in May of 2024.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Henry Moore, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-4.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Dakota Ridge). They were the clear victors by a 13-5 margin over D'Evelyn on Tuesday. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for the Eagles considering their two-run performance the contest before.

Like Standley Lake, Dakota Ridge also got a great game from a two-way player: Matt Larmore. He struck out six batters over four innings while giving up three earned (and one unearned) runs off four hits (and only one walk). Larmore was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs while going 2-for-4.

In other batting news, Jackson Barrett was incredible, scoring four runs and stealing four bases while going 2-for-4. Another player making a difference was Mitchell Lee, who scored two runs while going 2-for-4.

Dakota Ridge kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 12 hits. That's the most hits they've managed all season.

The win got Standley Lake back to even at 5-5. As for Dakota Ridge, their victory bumped their record up to 2-8.