The Eureka Loggers will face off against the Red Bluff Spartans at 1:00 p.m. on Monday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Red Bluff will square off against a team with plenty of momentum: Eureka extended their winning streak to four on Wednesday. The Loggers put the hurt on McKinleyville with a sharp 12-2 win. Surprisingly, this marked the Loggers' third straight game in which the away team has come away the victor.
Royce Olson looked comfortable as he didn't allow a single earned run over four innings pitched.
On the hitting side, Robert Williams was incredible, going 2-for-3 with one home run, two RBI, and one double. Jesse Vasquez was another key player, going 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Red Bluff). Everything went their way against Enterprise on Friday as they made off with an 18-2 victory. With that win, the Spartans brought their scoring average up to 6.2 runs per game.
Ryan Ross and Cooper Sides were major factors no matter where they played. Throwing, Ross pitched one inning while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Meanwhile, Sides struck out nine batters over four innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off five hits. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in April. At the plate, Ross went 2-for-4 with two runs, two RBI, and one double, while Sides went 3-for-4 with three RBI and one double.
In other batting news, Red Bluff got a massive performance out of Mason Lyford, who went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, three runs, and two RBI. That's the most RBI Lyford has posted since back in March. Another player making a difference was Lucas Owens, who went 1-for-2 with two runs, one triple, and one RBI.
Red Bluff was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .500. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .300 or higher in 13 consecutive contests.
Red Bluff is on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 12 matchups. That's provided a massive bump to their 16-9 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.9 runs over those games. As for Eureka, they pushed their record up to 9-9 with the win, which was their third straight on the road.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Monday as neither team is afraid to steal. Eureka has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.8 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Red Bluff struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 3.1 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Everything went Eureka's way against Red Bluff in their previous meeting back in April of 2023, as Eureka made off with an 11-2 victory. Will the Loggers repeat their success, or do the Spartans have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
