Eisenhower hasn't had much luck against Jurupa Hills recently, but that could start to change on Monday. The Eisenhower Eagles will welcome the Jurupa Hills Spartans at 3:30 p.m. This will be Eisenhower's first chance to prove their worth in the conference.
Eisenhower's tournament run continued when they took on Murrieta Mesa on Saturday. Eisenhower lost 7-1 to Murrieta Mesa. The match marked the Eagles' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.
Eisenhower got a good showing from Eric Gutierrez, who pitched four innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits.
At the plate, Eisenhower saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was John Wood, who scored a run and stole Two bases. while going 1-for-2. Brian Martinez also deserves some recognition as he hit his first triple of the season.
Meanwhile, Jurupa Hills had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.3 runs) and they went ahead and made it five on Saturday. They put the hurt on the Fighting Scots with a sharp 21-2 win. The result was nothing new for the Spartans, who have now won five games by ten runs or more so far this season.
Casey Ard and Jayden Wright-DiGiamarino made a big impact no matter where they played. On the mound, Ard didn't allow a single earned run over five innings pitched. Meanwhile, Wright-DiGiamarino pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. The dominant performance also gave Ard a new career-high in strikeouts (five). At bat, Ard scored two runs and stole a base while getting on base in three of his five plate appearances, while Wright-DiGiamarino scored four runs and stole a base while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances. Ard is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now snagged at least one in each of the last three games he's played.
In other batting news, Aaden Lopez was a standout: he got on base in five of his six plate appearances with four runs, four RBI, and one double. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 2.1 runs per game. Another player making a difference was Matthew Toscano, who went 3-for-5 with three runs, four RBI, and one double.
Jurupa Hills hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now struck out at most five strikeouts in four consecutive matchups.
Jurupa Hills' victory bumped their record up to 7-1. As for Eisenhower, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 5-4.
Eisenhower couldn't quite finish off Jurupa Hills in their previous matchup back in February of 2024 and fell 6-4. Will Eisenhower have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other baseball content.
