Baseball Recap: IMG Academy Takes Down Ranked Magnolia Heights

IMG Academy is ranked highly in their home state and on Saturday they took on another highly ranked team in the form of Magnolia Heights. The IMG Academy Ascenders narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past the Magnolia Heights Chiefs 5-3. For the Ascenders, this counts as revenge for the 15-10 win the Chiefs walked away with the last time they faced one another back in March of 2015.

Oki Hosakawa looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one hit any time he's pitched this season.

On the hitting side, Troy Carpenter was incredible, going a perfect 1-for-1 with one home run and four RBI. That home run marked the first that he launched this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Nathan Eisfelder, who went 2-for-3 with one home run and two runs.

Ascenders

Previous Games (Home)

03/15/25 vs Magnolia Heights	5-3
03/14/25 vs Trinity Christian Academy	2-1
03/07/25 vs The First Academy	4-1
03/05/25 vs Braden River	10-0
02/21/25 vs George Jenkins	1-0
+ 2 more games

IMG Academy's victory was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-1. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.9 runs on average over those games. As for Magnolia Heights, their loss ended a ten-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 11-2.

Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. IMG Academy will host Jesuit at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The last three games IMG Academy has played have been within two runs, so don't be surprised if it's a close one. As for Magnolia Heights, they will welcome Rossville Christian Academy at 4:00 p.m. on Monday. Magnolia Heights' pitching crew has only allowed 2.2 runs per game this season, so Rossville Christian Academy's hitters will have their work cut out for them.