The Organ Mountain Knights are taking a road trip to square off against the Centennial Hawks at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Organ Mountain is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New Mexico's top teams: Las Cruces, who was ranked ninth at the time (Organ Mountain was ranked 13th). The Knights' pitcher stepped up to hand the Bulldawgs an 11-0 shutout on Thursday. Surprisingly, this marked the Knights' third straight game in which the away team has come away the victor.
Brennan McNiece tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run while striking out seven over five innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in four consecutive appearances.
Eren De Leon
| 04/17/25 @ Las Cruces | 3 |
| 04/10/25 @ Alamogordo | 2 |
| 03/15/25 @ Mayfield | 2 |
| 02/22/25 vs Midland Legacy | 2 |
| 04/17/25 @ Las Cruces | 1 |
On the hitting side, Eren De Leon was a standout: he went 3-for-4 with three RBI, two runs, and one double. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Devyn Garces, who went 2-for-4 with one home run and three RBI.
Organ Mountain kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 14 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least ten hits in three consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Centennial had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5 runs) and they went ahead and made it five on Thursday. They put the hurt on the Panthers with a sharp 16-6 win. That's two games straight that the Hawks have won by exactly ten runs.
Chase Sanchez made a big impact no matter where he played. He struck out six batters over four innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off three hits. Sanchez was even better at the plate, going 2-for-3 with three runs, four RBI, and one triple. That triple was his first of the season.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Cole Alons, who went 3-for-5 with two triples, three RBI, and one run. The team also got some help courtesy of Manny Grajeda, who went 2-for-4 with two runs, one double, and one RBI.
Centennial pushed their record up to 15-5 with the victory, which was their seventh straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.7 runs over those games. As for Organ Mountain, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 14-5-1 record this season.
Monday's game will be a test for both teams' pitchers. Organ Mountain hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .353. However, it's not like Centennial struggles in that department as they've averaged .316. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Organ Mountain was able to grind out a solid victory over Centennial in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, winning 9-4. Do the Knights have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Hawks turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
