The Westlake Thunder will take on the Alta Hawks at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Westlake is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Utah's top teams: Mountain Ridge, who was ranked seventh at the time (Westlake was ranked 20th). The Thunder came up short against the Sentinels on Friday, falling 10-0. The contest marked the first time this year in which the Thunder were not able to get on the board.
Westlake saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Dawson Ferguson, who went 2-for-3 with one double. Johann Garcia also deserves some recognition as he got his first hit of the season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Alta). Their pitchers stepped up to hand Weber a 10-0 shutout on Tuesday. The Hawks not only won on Tuesday, but they posted their biggest win since May 5, 2025 (when they won 13-2).
Ian Alvey made a splash no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only one hit while striking out seven over five innings pitched. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in April of 2025. He was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-3 with one home run and two RBI.
In other batting news, Alta got a massive performance out of Abel Velador, who went 2-for-4 with one home run and three RBI. That's the most RBI Velador has posted since back in March of 2025. Crew Scheel was another key player, going 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, one run, and one RBI.
Alta's first win this season bumped their record up to 1-5. As for Westlake, their loss dropped their record down to 5-2.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. Westlake hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.4 home runs per game. However, it's not like Alta struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 1.5 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other baseball content.
