After flying high against Weaver last Thursday, Desert Chapel came back down to earth. The Desert Chapel Eagles fell victim to a rough 14-2 loss at the hands of the Palm Valley FIREBIRDS on Tuesday. The result was an unpleasant reminder to Desert Chapel of the 21-2 defeat they experienced in the pair's previous head-to-head fixture back in March.
Desert Chapel saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Christian Gooding, who scored a run and stole two bases while going 2-for-3. Sam Mourhess was another key contributor, going 1-for-2 with three stolen bases.
On Palm Valley's side, Arsh Rehman made a big impact no matter where he played. He struck out ten batters over five innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off two hits. Rehman has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't tossed less than nine strikeouts in six consecutive pitching appearances. Rehman was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a home run, two stolen bases, and four RBI.
In other batting news, Palm Valley got a massive performance out of Alex Ratner, who scored four runs and stole three bases while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances. Ratner has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last seven times he's played. Another player making a difference was Kyle Knight, who scored two runs and stole four bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
Desert Chapel now has a losing record at 3-4. As for Palm Valley, the win was the seventh in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 7-1.
Desert Chapel will head out on the road to take on Noli Indian at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday. Desert Chapel is strutting in with some hitting muscle, as they've averaged 10.4 runs per game this season. As for Palm Valley, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Weaver at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday. One thing working in Palm Valley's favor is that they have posted big run totals in their last six matchups.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
