Delta has gone 9-1 against Rifle recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Panthers will look to defend their home field against the Bears at 3:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Delta has seven straight wins, Rifle has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Delta's pitching crew heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Aspen with a sharp 15-0 victory. Considering the Panthers have won nine contests by more than five runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.
Ripp Lockhart was a major factor no matter where he played. On the mound, he kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits over four innings pitched. Lockhart was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI. That's the most doubles he has posted since back in March.
Davion Lopez
| 04/15/25 vs Aspen | 4 |
| 04/11/25 vs Roaring Fork | 2 |
| 04/11/25 vs Roaring Fork | 2 |
| 03/15/25 @ Resurrection Christian | 2 |
| 04/15/25 vs Aspen | 1 |
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Davion Lopez, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with four runs. Those four runs gave him a new career-high. Rylan Cryer was another key player, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with three RBI and one double.
Delta was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .409. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .318 or higher in seven consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Rifle scored the most runs they've had this season on Saturday, but it wasn't enough. They lost 24-14 to Summit. Even if the Bears couldn't come away with the win, the high-scoring effort was a great turnaround for their hitters, which had struggled int the games prior.
Rifle saw seven different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Remington Decrow, who got on base in all three of his plate appearances with two stolen bases, one triple, and two RBI. Another was Joseph Spritzer, who went 3-for-4 with two runs and one RBI.
Delta pushed their record up to 11-5 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 13.0 runs over those games. As for Rifle, their defeat dropped their record down to 8-7.
Delta was able to grind out a solid victory over Rifle when the teams last played back in March of 2024, winning 6-3. Do the Panthers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Bears turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
