Baseball Game Preview: Iowa Park Hawks vs. City View Mustangs

For the second straight game, Iowa Park will face off against City View. The Hawks will be playing at home against the Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Iowa Park has five straight victories, City View has five straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

Iowa Park had to skate by with only a one-run margin when they last took the field, which might have inspired the nine-run drubbing they dealt City View on Tuesday. The Hawks blew past the Mustangs 11-2. The high-scoring performance was a welcome turnaround for the Hawks' hitters, who had struggled in the games prior.

AJ Ramirez

Batters Struck Out

04/22/25 @ City View	13
04/15/25 @ Henrietta	11
04/12/25 vs Boyd	1
04/04/25 @ Jacksboro	12
03/28/25 @ Bowie	12
03/21/25 @ Vernon	13

AJ Ramirez was a major factor no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out 13 over six innings pitched. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in March. He was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and one RBI.

In other pitching news, Braxton Vest looked comfortable as he pitched one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one hit in eight consecutive appearances.

Back at the plate, the team relied heavily on Brayden Holster, who went 2-for-4 with three RBI, two runs, and one stolen base. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was CJ McNeill, who went 2-for-4 with two runs, two RBI, and one double.

Iowa Park was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .379. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as City View only posted a batting average of .231.

Iowa Park's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 18-7. The road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.0 run on average over those games. As for City View, their loss dropped their record down to 9-15.