The Higley Knights will head out on the road to take on the Mountain Pointe Pride at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday. Higley is no doubt hoping to put an end to a four-game streak of away losses.
Last Thursday, Higley came up short against Casteel and fell 8-3.
Ryan Birch was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he pitched five innings while giving up just one earned (and three unearned) runs off four hits. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in three consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Cooper Patterson was cooking despite his team's loss, going 3-for-3 with a home run. Another player making a difference was Ty Henze, who scored a run while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, Mountain Pointe was able to grind out a solid win over Casa Grande on Tuesday, taking the game 8-4. Eight seems to be a good number for Mountain Pointe as the squad scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Cesar Verduzco made a splash while hitting and pitching. He tossed an inning while giving up no earned runs or hits (he also didn't allow any walks). Verduzco was also big at the plate, scoring three runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-3.
In other pitching news, Mountain Pointe got a great performance from Blake Bell as he struck out seven batters over six innings while giving up four earned runs off four hits.
Back at the plate, Cole Rogers was a standout: he got on base in three of his four plate appearances with a triple, a stolen base, and a run. Zach Stevens was another key contributor, going 2-for-3 with a stolen base and two RBI.
Higley's defeat dropped their record down to 10-10. As for Mountain Pointe, their win ended a four-game drought at home and bumped them up to 12-10.
Higley might still be hurting after the 7-0 loss they got from Mountain Pointe when the teams last played back in March. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Bell, who didn't allow a single earned run and only one hit while striking out eight over seven innings pitched. Now that Higley knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
