Baseball Recap: Bear River Comes Up Short

Bear River extended their losing streak to three on Friday, dropping them down to 13-5. They were a single run away from ending the streak, but they lost a 3-2 heartbreaker at the hands of the Mountain Crest Mustangs. The loss was just more heartbreak for the Bears who fell 6-4 when the teams previously met back in March of 2025.

Ethan Higgs was huge no matter where he played even without the win. He didn't allow a single earned run while striking out ten over 5.2 innings pitched. What's more, he gave up only zero earned runs, the fewest he's had since back in March. He was also big at the plate, going 1-for-2 with one triple and two RBI.

Higgs wasn't the only one making solid contact as six players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Chipper Hawes, who went 2-for-3 with one run and one double.

As for Mountain Crest, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 12 of their last 13 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 16-2 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.3 runs on average over those games.

On Mountain Crest's side, Sam Rowser spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned runs on eight hits.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Mason Smith, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs. Another player making a difference was Ethan Nielsen, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base and one run.

Bear River and Mountain Crest should be looking forward to their upcoming games as both have a sizable advantage in the MaxPreps Utah Rankings. The Bears will challenge Deseret Peak at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday with a big rank advantage (17 vs. 64). Meanwhile, Mountain Crest (ranked 13th) will meet Tooele (ranked 91st) at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday.