Hillcrest faced Hoover in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. The Patriots sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 4-2 victory over the Bucs. That's more bragging rights for the Patriots, who also won the pair's last head-to-head.

Mason Booth
| 04/02/26 vs Hoover | 8 |
| 03/26/26 @ Northside | 3 |
| 03/03/26 vs Northridge | 3 |
| 02/26/26 vs John Carroll | 3 |
| 03/16/26 @ Robertsdale | 1 |
Mason Booth tossed a big game, striking out eight batters over six innings while giving up just two earned runs off five hits. Those eight strikeouts gave him a new career-high.
At the plate, Hillcrest saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Gunner Webb, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with one run and one RBI.
The win made it two in a row for Hillcrest and bumps their season record up to 18-8. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered a grand total of 4 runs in those games. As for Hoover, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 17-9.
Coming up, Hillcrest will head out to face off against Prattville at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. As for Hoover, they will be playing at home against American Christian Academy at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The Patriots' pitching crew has only allowed 2.9 runs per game this season, so the Bucs' hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps