Baseball Recap: Needles Takes a Loss

Needles had lost three straight on the road, but on Friday they dropped down to 10-8 to make it four. They fell 13-9 to the White Pine Bobcats. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last six times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.

Hudson Smith

Runs

03/27/26 vs Lincoln County	4
04/17/26 @ White Pine	2
04/07/26 vs Holtville	2
03/27/26 vs Lincoln County	2
03/25/26 @ Williams	2
+ 6 more games

Hudson Smith made the most of his time in the batter's box despite the final result and went 2-for-4 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI. He has become a key player for Needles: the team is 7-2 when he posts at least two runs, but 3-6 otherwise. Jayden Valdez also deserves some recognition as he snagged his first stolen base of the season.

As for White Pine, the win was the seventh in a row for them, bringing their record up to 8-4. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.1 runs on average over those games.

On White Pine's side, Maddox Sedlacek was a major factor no matter where he played. He pitched four innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off four hits. Sedlacek has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances. He was also stellar in the batter's box, going 1-for-3 with one home run and three RBI.

In other batting news, Jacob Hall and Cainen Sedlacek did most of the damage at the plate: Hall got on base in three of his five plate appearances with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run, while Cainen got on base in all three of his plate appearances with two runs, one stolen base, and one double. Hall has been hot, having posted at least one stolen base the last seven times he's played. Landon Neilson was another key player, getting on base in two of his four plate appearances with two stolen bases and two runs.

Coming up, Needles will face off against GV Christian at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday. As for White Pine, they will square off against Wells at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Bobcats will need to watch out since the Leopards have now posted at least ten runs in their last four matchups.