Pearce came tearing into Saturday's contest with eight straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 7.1 runs) and they left with even more momentum. Their pitchers stepped up to hand the Lake Highlands Wildcats a 5-0 shutout. For Pearce, this counts as revenge for the 6-5 defeat Lake Highlands walked away with the last time they faced one another back in April of 2023.
AJ Ripley made a big impact no matter where he played. He didn't allow a single earned run and only one hit over five innings pitched. Ripley has been consistent recently: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in five consecutive pitching appearances. Ripley was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 1-for-3.
In other pitching news, Degan Kubat looked comfortable as he tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits (he also didn't allow any walks).
Back at the plate, Pearce let Vince Villegas and Natanael Melendez loose on the outfield. Villegas scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3, while Melendez scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
Pearce is on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 11 matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 16-13 record this season. As for Lake Highlands, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 11-15-1.
Pearce will have a chance to go back-to-back against Lake Highlands: the pair's next game is a rematch scheduled at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
