Baseball Preview: Merced Bears vs. Central Valley Hawks
The Merced Bears will be playing at home against the Central Valley Hawks at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Merced is coming into the contest on a three-game losing streak.
Last Friday, it was a hard-fought matchup, but Merced had to settle for a 5-4 loss against El Capitan. That's two games in a row now that Merced has lost by just one run.
Merced saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jayden Resendez, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Meanwhile, Central Valley can finally bid farewell to their three-game losing streak thanks to their game on Friday. They walked away with a 6-2 victory over Hilmar.
Hunter Shaw looked comfortable as he tossed an inning while giving up no earned runs or hits.
On the hitting side, Isaias Valdovinos was excellent, scoring a run while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.
Merced's defeat dropped their record down to 11-10. As for Central Valley, their win bumped their record up to 11-13.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Tuesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Merced has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.4 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Central Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.9. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Merced came out on top in a nail-biter against Central Valley when the teams last played back in April of 2023, sneaking past 2-1. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Central Valley's Diego Delahoya, who struck out nine batters over eight innings while giving up just one earned run off six hits. Now that he won't be playing on Tuesday, will it be that much easier for Merced to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
