The Sunset Knights will venture away from home to take on the Belen Jesuit Wolverines at 6:30 p.m. on Monday. Sunset will aim to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each matchup than the last.
On Thursday, Sunset earned a 9-4 win over Coral Reef.
Jacob Diamond looked comfortable as he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits over four innings pitched. What's more, he posted two strikeouts, the most he's had since back in February.
AJ Cruz
| 04/03/25 vs Coral Reef | 1 |
| 04/02/25 vs Brito | 1 |
| 02/28/25 @ Florida Christian | 1 |
At the plate, AJ Cruz was excellent, going 1-for-4 with one home run, two runs, and one stolen base. He has become a key player for Sunset: the team is 2-1 when he posts at least one home run, but 6-10 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Julio Gonzalez, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, Belen Jesuit fell victim to Canterbury and their airtight pitching crew on Thursday. They took a 5-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Cougars. Having soared to a lofty 12 runs in the game before, the Wolverines' shutout was a dramatic turnaround.
Marcelo Llorente was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he struck out seven batters over five innings while giving up three earned runs off eight hits (and only one walk). What's more, he gave up only one walk, the fewest he's had since back in March.
Sunset pushed their record up to 8-11 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.3 runs on average over those games. As for Belen Jesuit, they now have a losing record of 10-11.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Monday. Sunset hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.6 home runs per game. However, it's not like Belen Jesuit struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.4 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Everything went Sunset's way against Belen Jesuit in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, as Sunset made off with a 10-4 victory. Will the Knights repeat their success, or do the Wolverines have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
