The Chaparral Firebirds will face off against the San Luis Sidewinders at 3:45 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (Chaparral: 3.3, San Luis: 4) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Chaparral's pitching crew heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Thursday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Mountain Pointe 1-0. The one-run effort marked the Firebirds' lowest-scoring contest of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Chaparral got a great performance from Grafton Marshall-Inman as he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out six over five innings pitched.
At the plate, Gavin Mesa was excellent, scoring a run while going 3-for-3. That's the most hits he has posted since back in March of 2024. Tanner Anderson also deserves some recognition as he brought in his first RBI of the season.
Meanwhile, San Luis suffered their closest loss since March 28, 2024 on Thursday. They fell just short of Williams Field by a score of 6-4. The Sidewinders have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Zaid Cardenas was huge no matter where he played even without the win. He tossed four innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off four hits. That's the fewest earned runs he has allowed since back in March of 2024. He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 3-for-4.
Cardenas wasn't the only one making solid contact as six players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Arnold Jimenez, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base.
The victory made it two in a row for Chaparral and bumps their season record up to 4-2. They've had to fight for that success though, as they only beat their opponents by an average of 1.5 runs across that stretch. As for San Luis, they now have a losing record of 3-4.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Chaparral has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.3 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like San Luis struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.9 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other baseball content.
