Baseball Game Preview: Irvine Vaqueros vs. La Serna Lancers

The Irvine Vaqueros will be taking part in a tournament against the La Serna Lancers at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. Irvine's pitching crew has only allowed 3.7 runs per game this season, so La Serna's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

The home team had won the previous four meetings between Irvine and University, and University kept the tradition alive. Irvine fell just short of University by a score of 3-2 on Thursday. The Vaqueros' defeat signaled the end of their three-game winning streak.

Irvine saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Smith Spivey, who went 1-for-3 with one triple and one run. That triple marked the first that Spivey hit this season.

Meanwhile, after a string of four wins, La Serna's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They fell just short of California by a score of 6-5.

Grady Long was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he struck out seven batters over six innings while giving up just one earned (and three unearned) runs off two hits. Those seven strikeouts gave him a new career-high.

At the plate, Gibson Laracuente made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and scored a run and stole a base while going 4-for-4. Those four hits gave him a new career-high. Dominic Segura was another key player, scoring a run while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

La Serna's loss was their first in the league, dropping their league record down to 2-1 and their overall record down to 6-5. As for Irvine, they now have a losing record of 7-8.