Junior Ciprian Dominates Grizzlies, Rawhide Win Third Game of Week

Visalia, CA – Junior Ciprian pitched a quality start as the Visalia Rawhide (27-34) defeated the Fresno Grizzlies (31-30) 5-1 on Friday night at Valley Strong Ballpark.

Visalia leads the series 3-1 and can win the week with a victory in either of the series’ final two games. Fresno is clinging to a seven games to six advantage in the Highway 99 Rivalry Series with 11 games to play.

Ciprian, the reigning California League Pitcher of the Week, tossed six innings allowing just two hits and one run with a career high eight strikeouts. He earned his fourth win of the season and holds a California League best 2.61 ERA among qualifying pitchers. Ciprian has pitched three quality starts in his last four appearances.

Teofilo Mendez continued the pitching success with two shutout innings and three strikeouts. Alexis Liebano closed out the game by striking out the side in the ninth.

Fresno plated the game’s first run on a leadoff triple and sacrifice fly in the first frame. Visalia took the lead in the second. Ivan Luciano worked a walk and Pedro Catuy bashed a two run home run off the scoreboard in left field.

The Rawhide extended the lead in the fifth inning. Eliesbert Alejos and JD Dix both worked walks in the frame. Abdias De La Cruz crushed a two out RBI double to left field to score the inning’s first run.

Carlos Virahonda then grounded a ball to the Grizzlies shortstop that was thrown to the backstop allowing two more unearned runs to score.

De La Cruz and Dix both finished with two hits. Dix recorded his 13th multi-hit game of the season and fourth multi-hit performance in his last five games. He extends his on-base streak to 27 games- the second longest active streak in the California League.

The Battle for the Highway 99 Rivalry Series continues on Saturday. Valley Strong Ballpark will be “In Our Rawhide ERA Night.” DJ Swiftie, the world’s number one tribute Taylor Swift DJ, will be performing a pregame and postgame concert.

The evening will also include a postgame fireworks show presented by Calgren Renewable Fuels.

Plus the team will once again transform into the Central Valley Sir Loins on another Sir Loin Saturday at Valley Strong Ballpark.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 PM with gates opening for season ticket holders at 5:15 PM and the general public at 5:30 PM.

All Rawhide tickets are available through the team’s website and at the stadium box office presented by Kaweah Health starting at Noon on weekend gamedays.

--

The Visalia Rawhide are the Single-A Affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks playing professional baseball in the Central Valley since 1946. The Rawhide's 2026 theme is "Savor the Season" as the team transforms into the Central Valley Sir Loins on Saturday gamedays.   

Stay up to date with the Rawhide on the team’s website and by following the Rawhide on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and X. The Rawhide play all home games at Valley Strong Ballpark located at 300 N Giddings Street Visalia, CA 93291.

Fans can purchase season ticket packages, group ticket plans, single game tickets and team merchandise through the Rawhide website and at the stadium ticket office sponsored by Kaweah Health. All Rawhide games can be watched on MLB.TV and the Bally Sports Live App with a free radio broadcast also available online. Select home games will be aired on KNXT MyTV53. For more information, visit milb.com/visalia, email info@rawhidebaseball.com or call (559) 732-4433.