The Hazen Highlanders will head out on the road to face off against the Bellevue Wolverines at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this matchup.
On Wednesday, Hazen came up short against Liberty and fell 4-1. Hazen has struggled against Liberty recently, as their match on Wednesday was their fifth consecutive lost matchup.
Sam Nicholson was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he struck out nine batters over six innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off four hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up a single earned run every time he's pitched this season.
On the hitting side, Hazen saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Alvin Chang, who went 2-for-2 with an RBI.
Even though they lost, Hazen didn't let batters stay on the plate for long and finished the game with nine strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Liberty only tossed five.
Meanwhile, Bellevue fell victim to a rough 7-1 loss at the hands of Mercer Island on Wednesday. Bellevue has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Hazen's defeat ended a five-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 4-3. As for Bellevue, they now have a losing record at 3-4.
Hazen came out on top in a nail-biter against Bellevue in their previous matchup back in April of 2023, sneaking past 13-11. The rematch might be a little tougher for Hazen since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
