The Homestead Mustangs will square off against the Hillsdale Fighting Knights at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Homestead took a loss when they played away from home on Wednesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. They were the clear victors by a 10-2 margin over Gunn.
Andrew Sun was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run over seven innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive appearances. He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 1-for-4. What's more, he posted two RBI, the most he's had since back in April of 2024.
In other batting news, Logan Christianson was incredible, going 2-for-4 with two triples, two runs, and one RBI. Those two triples gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Drew Hamburger, who went 2-for-3 with one triple, two RBI, and one run.
Homestead always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .514. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Gunn only posted an OBP of .267.
Meanwhile, Hillsdale narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Carlmont 3-2.
Hillsdale also got a great performance from Robert Gilbert as he pitched six innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off four hits. Gilbert is becoming a predictor of Hillsdale's success: when he allows at most one earned run the team is undefeated (and 2-3 when he doesn't).
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Jake Belloni, who went 1-for-3 with one home run. Thomas Schultz was another key player, going 1-for-3 with one home run.
Hillsdale is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.4 runs on average over those games. Homestead's victory bumped their record up to 5-6.
