The Needles Mustangs will head out on the road to square off against the Pahrump Valley Trojans at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Needles will be strutting in after a victory while Pahrump Valley will be coming in after a loss.
Needles picked up another tournament win on Saturday. They blew past Chinle 14-3. With that win, the Mustangs brought their scoring average up to 6.2 runs per game.
JD Lusk made a big impact no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-low in walks (zero). He was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base. What's more, he posted three RBI, the most he's had since back in May of 2024.
Tyler Wilson
| 03/08/25 @ Chinle | 3 |
| 03/06/25 @ North Valley Christian Academy | 3 |
| 03/07/25 @ Mohave | 2 |
| 02/27/25 vs Central | 2 |
| 02/28/25 vs Fernley | 1 |
In other batting news, Needles got a massive performance out of Tyler Wilson, who scored three runs and stole Three bases. while going 2-for-2. Wilson has become a key player for Needles: the team is 3-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 1-4-1 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Gabe Rodriquez, who scored three runs and stole Three bases. while going 1-for-3.
Needles was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .417. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Chinle only posted a batting average of .267.
Meanwhile, Pahrump Valley suffered their closest defeat since April 11, 2024 on Friday. They fell just short of Moapa Valley by a score of 4-2. The Trojans' loss signaled the end of their three-game winning streak.
Pahrump Valley saw eight different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Aidyn Cratty, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-4. Vinny Whitney also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.
The victory made it two in a row for Needles and bumps their season record up to 4-5-1. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to hits: they averaged an imposing nine hits in those games compared to only 5.5 in the others. As for Pahrump Valley, their defeat dropped their record down to 11-3-1.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Tuesday as neither team is afraid to steal. Needles has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 4.2 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Pahrump Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 5.3 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Everything went Needles' way against Pahrump Valley when the teams last played back in April of 2024, as Needles made off with an 8-2 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Needles since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
