The Red Mountain Mountain Lions will face off against the Chaparral Firebirds at 3:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (Red Mountain 3, Chaparral 3.2) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Red Mountain is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another highly-ranked state team: Faith Lutheran, who was ranked 25th in their home state at the time (Red Mountain was ranked 15th). Red Mountain fell just short of Faith Lutheran by a score of 9-7 on Wednesday. The Mountain Lions' loss signaled the end of their five-game winning streak.
Carter Macanas was cooking despite his team's loss, going 3-for-4 with four RBI and one double. Another player making a difference was Wyatt Bundy, who scored a run while going 3-for-4.
Meanwhile, Chaparral hadn't done well against Hamilton recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Thursday. Chaparral came out on top against Hamilton by a score of 4-2 (the very same score they lost by in their prior game).
Truman Parker looked comfortable as he pitched 2.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two hits any time he's pitched this season.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Gavin Mesa, who fired off two home runs and three runs while going 3-for-3. He has become a key player for Chaparral: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 2-3 otherwise.
Chaparral is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games. That's provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.3 runs on average over those games. Red Mountain's defeat dropped their record down to 5-2.
Red Mountain couldn't quite finish off Chaparral when the teams last played back in February of 2023 and fell 4-2. Can Red Mountain avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
