Baseball Game Preview: Kennedy Thunderbirds vs. Shafter Generals

The Kennedy Thunderbirds will face off against the Shafter Generals at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

Kennedy is headed into the game having just suffered their closest defeat since April 23, 2024 on Thursday. They fell just short of McFarland by a score of 6-4.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Shafter, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Friday. Everything went their way against North on Saturday as they made off with an 11-1 victory. The Generals might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won six matchups by nine runs or more this season.

Andy Gomez made a splash no matter where he played. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out six over five innings pitched. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in April of 2024. He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in two of his three plate appearances.

In other batting news, Lukas Pena was incredible, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 3-for-3. Those three hits gave him a new career-high. Alex Casanova-Balderrama was another key player, scoring a run and stealing two bases while going 2-for-3.

Shafter was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .500. They are a perfect 6-0 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.

Shafter has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 8-4 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.3 runs on average over those games. As for Kennedy, they dropped their record down to 5-9 with the loss, which was their third straight on the road.

Kennedy suffered a grim 9-3 defeat to Shafter in their previous matchup back in April of 2024. Can the Thunderbirds avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.