Baseball Recap: Belleview Has No Trouble Against West Port

Rattlers

Margin (Wins)

03/04/25 @ Leesburg	9
03/07/25 @ West Port	7
02/18/25 vs Windermere Prep	7
02/11/25 vs Lake Weir	6

Belleview barely beat West Port the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Belleview Rattlers put the hurt on the West Port Wolf Pack with a sharp 13-6 win on Friday. The Rattlers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four matchups by six runs or more this season.

Ethan Gifford and Jordan Pinkerton made a big impact no matter where they played. Throwing, Gifford pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Meanwhile, Pinkerton didn't allow a single hit while striking out six over five innings pitched. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-low in hits (zero). At bat, Gifford scored two runs while getting on base in three of his five plate appearances, while Pinkerton scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. Gifford has become a key player for Belleview: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 3-4 otherwise.

In other batting news, Belleview let Katcher Streit and Gilbehert Mendoza run wild. Streit scored two runs while going 1-for-3, while Mendoza scored three runs and stole a base while getting on base in two of his five plate appearances. The team also got some help courtesy of Dylan Florio, who scored a run while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances.

Belleview has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 7-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.0 runs over those games. West Port's loss was their fourth straight at home, which dropped their record down to 1-11.

Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Belleview will head out to square off against Vanguard at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. As for West Port, they are taking a road trip to challenge Lake Weir at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. West Port has given up an average of 11.1 runs per game this season, so hopefully the team got some pitching drills in this week.