The Lincoln Mustangs will head out on the road to face off against the Half Moon Bay Cougars at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Lincoln is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They blew past Mission 10-2 last Thursday. The Mustangs haven't had any issues with the Bears recently, as the game was their eighth consecutive win against them.
Aidan Castaneda was a major factor no matter where he played. He pitched five innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off three hits. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in strikeouts (four). He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing Two bases. while going 1-for-3. Those runs were his first of the season.
In other pitching news, Santino Villasenor looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. What's more, he gave up only zero earned runs, the fewest he's had since back in April of 2024.
Back at the plate, Xavier Malizia and Wyatt Toloski did most of the damage at the plate: Malizia scored a run while going 1-for-2, while Toloski scored a run while going 2-for-4. The dominant performance also gave Toloski a new career-high in RBI (two). Another player making a difference was Nicholas Chiu, who scored a run and stole Two bases. while going 1-for-4.
Meanwhile, Half Moon Bay hadn't done well against Carlmont recently (they were 1-6 in their previous seven matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Half Moon Bay walked away with a 5-2 victory over Carlmont.
Kai Kung spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned runs on six hits. He also tossed a walk, which is notable because Half Moon Bay is 2-1 when he allows at most one walk, but 0-3 otherwise.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Riley Jackson, who scored three runs while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances.
Lincoln pushed their record up to 2-4 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to hits: they averaged an imposing 10.25 hits in those games compared to only 4.2 in the others. As for Half Moon Bay, their record is now 2-4.
