The Hillcrest Trojans are taking a road trip to face off against the Canyon Springs Cougars at 3:15 p.m. on Monday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.
If Hillcrest beats Canyon Springs with ten runs on Monday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two matches with that exact score. The Trojans didn't even let Vista del Lago on the board on Thursday, marking the Trojans' second-straight 10-0 shutout. Considering the Trojans have won nine contests by more than five runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
The team relied heavily on Chris Sampson, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-2. Luke Mueller was another key player, going a perfect 2-for-2 with three RBI, one stolen base, and one double.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Canyon Springs). Everything went their way against Perris on Thursday as they made off with a 10-0 victory. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Cougars.
Canyon Springs also got a great performance from Dane Karlson as he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out ten over five innings pitched. Karlson also tossed no walks, which is notable because the Cougars are 2-1 when he allows at most one walk, but 6-9 otherwise.
On the hitting side, Issac Martinez was a standout: he went 2-for-3 with two triples, three RBI, and two runs. He is becoming a predictor of Canyon Springs' success: when he posts at least two runs the team is 2-1 (and 6-9 when he doesn't). Another player making a difference was Dylan Andrews, who scored three runs and stole two bases while going 3-for-3.
Canyon Springs always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .593. The last time their OBP was this high was back in February of 2024.
Hillcrest has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games. That's provided a nice bump to their 11-5-1 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Canyon Springs, their record now sits at 8-10.
Everything went Hillcrest's way against Canyon Springs in their previous meeting back in March, as Hillcrest made off with an 8-2 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Trojans since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
