Hitting is demonstrating a return as it emerges from hibernation, while pitching still maintains a slight advantage over the batters.

With temperatures rising into the low 60s, the team gradually recovered from Wednesday’s extreme cold, and pitching regained its earlier effectiveness.

Strikeouts remain a concern, with 15 today. The offense is showing signs of improved consistency, with three players—Jake Ogden, Max Galvin, and Blylan West—each recording multiple hits. Blylan’s two doubles marked his best performance so far. Today’s 12 hits reflect a notable improvement from last week. Defensively, the team demonstrated tighter ball control, committing only one error. Overall, the hitting is elevating to the next level, while pitching continues to compete with the batters—still striving to maintain the edge, as the balance begins to shift.

Eight innings of contested ball with 6 pitchers. Our two weekend starters, AJ Ciscar and Tate DeRias, received the initial call, each pitching 4 innings. Tate, who didn’t have the best showing last week, still struggled today, even though it didn’t show on the scoreboard. Offensively, the bats picked up where they left off on Wednesday. Jake Ogden and Vance Sheahan each opened with a pair of singles, and Daniel did not leave Jake hanging on third, with an SF to right for the first score. Although he would continue to give up hits over the course of his 4 innings, the SF in the first inning would be the only score. In the second inning, back-to-back singles by Fabio Peralta and Max Galvin ended on Gabiel Milano’s hit into a DP, catching Fabio unable to get back to second to end the inning. In the final two innings, JD put a runner on first to start the inning so the hitters could practice their bunting. JD did this in the final inning of each of the pitchers’ rotations. In the third inning, Tate started looking like he had more control of the ball, striking out two and surviving a BL dilemma in the 4th, striking out Cian Copeland and having Mason Greenhouse ground out 1-3.

AJ already seems well-prepared for Opening Day. He delivered another strong performance, allowing just a single hit by Bennett Gary in the first inning, who was caught attempting to steal second. Despite JD putting a runner on first, AJ’s focus remained unchanged. A strikeout and a 6-4-3 double play concluded the third, and he faced only two batters in the fourth to finish the inning. Unfortunately, AJ’s outing today was so effortless that he didn’t even seem to break a sweat.

The second set of pitchers was Lonzo Drummond and Jake Lodgek. Lonzo looked unhittable in his first inning, striking out two, but fell off to the deep end in the second inning with a base runner starting on first. He started strong, striking out Sosa to start the inning, and then it rapidly went downhill with West doubling (RBI), Donavan Jeffrey reaching on a Cuvet throwing error resulting in a run, followed by an RBI double by Michael Torres. A promising start that didn’t carry through to the end.

Jake faced the toughest challenge of the day. He temporarily gained some relief after Ogden was caught stealing second just after opening with a single. Three straight walks loaded the bases. With the bases loaded and facing his fifth and final batter, Cian Copeland, Cian delivered a single through the middle, scoring two runs. In the next inning, with a runner at first, Jake put the previous inning behind him, retiring the three batters he faced in quick succession. This was the opposite of Lonzo’s experience—an unfortunate start but a promising finish.

The final two pitchers of the day were Brixton Lofgren and Dylan Dubovik. Brixton had a quiet first inning, striking out two of the three batters he faced. However, he faced a bit more difficulty in his second inning when a runner was placed on first to start. Brixton began the 8th inning by hitting Jackson Hugus. Dubovik executed a perfect sacrifice bunt, advancing the runner to second. A wild pitch moved the runner to third, setting up Fabio with a runner in scoring position, and he successfully drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to center.

Dylan, after going 0-1 at the plate, took his turn on the mound to finish today’s scrimmage. A quick 3-up/3-down inning got him ready for a similar ending, though he had to work a bit harder after an opening runner was placed on first. Daniel started the 8th with a single, then walked Alvarez. Dylan regained his composure, striking out Copeland and Greenhouse, ending with Ogden lining out to shortstop.