The Queen Creek Bulldogs will head out on the road to square off against the Red Mountain Mountain Lions at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Queen Creek is headed into the match having just posted their closest win since February 27th on Thursday. Their pitchers stepped up to hand Higley a 1-0 shutout. The one-run effort marked the Bulldogs' lowest-scoring contest of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
AJ Ramirez
| 03/27/25 vs Higley | 1 |
| 03/20/25 vs Perry | 2 |
| 02/27/25 vs Lovejoy | 1 |
AJ Ramirez looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two hits any time he's pitched this season.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Tait Reynolds, who went 1-for-3 with one home run.
Meanwhile, Red Mountain had already won seven in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5 runs) and they went ahead and made it eight on Thursday. They put the hurt on the Mustangs with a sharp 11-0 victory. Considering the Mountain Lions have won six games by more than five runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Jimmy McCarthy looked comfortable as he tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. That's the first time he hasn't allowed a single hit since back in March of 2024.
At the plate, Derek Wilson was incredible, scoring two runs while going 2-for-2. What's more, he posted three RBI, the most he's had since March 5th. Caden Royer also deserves some recognition as he scored his first run of the season.
Red Mountain always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .571. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Red Mountain pushed their record up to 13-2 with the win, which was their seventh straight at home. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.1 runs on average over those games. As for Queen Creek, their record is now 7-3.
Queen Creek skirted past Red Mountain 2-1 in their previous meeting back in March of 2018. The rematch might be a little tougher for Queen Creek since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
