The Mission Oak Hawks will face off against the Mt. Whitney Pioneers at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Mission Oak has seven straight victories, Mt. Whitney has seven straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Mission Oak is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. Everything went their way against Golden West on Monday as they made off with a 17-3 win. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest victory of the season.
Nick Retiz was a standout: he went a perfect 3-for-3 with five RBI, three runs, and one triple. That's the most hits he has posted since back in March. Another player making a difference was Gage Hastin, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with five RBI, two runs, and one stolen base.
Mission Oak always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .647. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Mt. Whitney had taken Tulare Western down for two straight games at home, but that winning streak came to an end on Monday. The Pioneers fell just short of the Mustangs by a score of 8-6.
Sawyer Sowers was huge no matter where he played even without the win. On the mound, he pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits. Sowers was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-3 with one double and one RBI.
Sowers wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Matteo Zuniga, who scored two runs while going 2-for-3. Orson Gonzales was another, scoring a run while getting on base in two of his four plate appearances.
Mt. Whitney's defeat dropped their record down to 4-14. As for Mission Oak, their record is now 9-7-1.
Mission Oak came up short against Mt. Whitney when the teams last played back in April of 2023, falling 3-0. Can the Hawks avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
