Baseball Game Preview: Fresno Christian Eagles vs. Mendota Aztecs

The Fresno Christian Eagles will challenge the Mendota Aztecs at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Fresno Christian is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.7 runs per game this season.

Fresno Christian is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Riverdale 7-6. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last five times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.

Braden Belmont was a major factor while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he tossed seven innings while giving up three earned (and three unearned) runs off eight hits. Belmont was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-3 with one stolen base and two RBI.

In other batting news, Lucas Adanalian and Josh Kubota did most of the damage at the plate: Adanalian went 2-for-3 with two doubles, two RBI, and one run, while Kubota went 2-for-4 with two runs, one stolen base, and one double. That's the most RBI Adanalian has posted since back in April. Tristian Davis was another key player, going 1-for-3 with one run and one RBI.

Fresno Christian always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .529. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Riverdale only posted an OBP of .375.

Meanwhile, Mendota had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 9.3 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Tuesday. Everything went their way against the Cardinals as they made off with a 13-6 win. Considering the Aztecs have won nine matches by more than six runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.

Mendota pushed their record up to 15-11 with the victory, which was their eighth straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.9 runs on average over those games. As for Fresno Christian, their victory bumped their record up to 12-16.