Baseball Game Preview: Highlands Golden Rams vs. Shady Side Academy Bulldogs

The Highlands Golden Rams will be defending their home field for the first time this season when they go up against the Shady Side Academy Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Highlands will be strutting in after a win while Shady Side Academy will be coming in after a defeat.

Highlands is coming home in high spirits after they had to open their season on the road against West Shamokin. Highlands was the clear victor by a 15-5 margin over West Shamokin on Friday.

Kristian Kocon

Runs (Career)

03/21/25 @ West Shamokin	3
05/08/24 @ Springdale	2
05/01/24 vs Freeport	2
04/23/24 vs Hampton	2
03/25/24 vs Taylor Allderdice	2

Kristian Kocon made a big impact no matter where he played. He tossed four innings while giving up three earned (and one unearned) runs off three hits. That's the fewest hits he has allowed since back in March of 2024. He was even better at the plate, scoring three runs while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances. Those three runs gave him a new career-high.

In other batting news, Highlands got a massive performance out of Luke Lattus, who scored a run while getting on base in three of his five plate appearances. The dominant performance also gave Lattus a new career-high in RBI (three). Another player making a difference was Beckham Ochoa, who scored two runs while going 4-for-5.

Highlands always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .535. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as West Shamokin only posted an OBP of .375.

Fans were treated to a battle of the Bulldogs on Wednesday. Shady Side Academy fell just short of Brighton by a score of 6-5. Shady Side Academy has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

David Dillon was cooking despite his team's loss, scoring three runs and stealing four bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. Brady Trischler was another key player, going 2-for-4 with one triple and one RBI.

Highlands couldn't quite get it done against Shady Side Academy when the teams last played back in April of 2017 as they fell 9-5. Can Highlands avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.