Baseball Game Preview: Norwalk Lancers vs. Channel Islands Raiders

The Norwalk Lancers will take on the Channel Islands Raiders at 3:15 p.m. on Friday. Norwalk is coming into the contest hot, having won their last six games.

Norwalk is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Western Christian, sneaking past 4-3. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Lancers have posted since March 3rd.

Norwalk saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Israel Molina, who went 1-for-2 with two runs and one stolen base. That's the most runs Molina has posted since back in March.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Channel Islands). Everything went their way against Chaffey on Tuesday as they made off with a 15-2 victory. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest win of the season.

Gabriel Garcia made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, pitching 3.2 innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. Channel Islands is 3-1 when Garcia allows two or fewer hits, but 11-12 otherwise. Garcia was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two runs, one double, and one RBI.

In other batting news, Isaiah Osuna was a standout: he went 4-for-5 with three runs, one stolen base, and two RBI. He is becoming a predictor of Channel Islands' success: when he posts at least two runs the team is undefeated (and 9-13 when he doesn't). Andrew Chavez was another key player, getting on base in all five of his plate appearances with two runs and two RBI.

Norwalk pushed their record up to 17-10 with the victory, which was their 11th straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.0 runs over those games. As for Channel Islands, they now have a winning record of 14-13.