Baseball Game Preview: Monahans Loboes vs. Fort Stockton Panthers

For the first time this season, Monahans will have a chance to prove themselves in a conference matchup on Tuesday. They will welcome the Fort Stockton Panthers at 7:00 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.

Monahans is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 13 runs last Saturday, they were much more limited against Alpine on Tuesday. They lost 7-1 to the Bucks.

Meanwhile, Fort Stockton didn't have quite enough to beat Midland on Thursday and fell 6-4. The Panthers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Gerry Diaz was huge no matter where he played even without the win. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out eight batters over six innings while giving up six earned runs off five hits. That's the most strikeouts he has posted over his last four matchups. He was even better at the plate, scoring a run while going 3-for-4.

In other batting news, Nick Almendariz made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one stolen base and one RBI.

Monahans has been struggling recently as they've lost six of their last eight games. That's put a noticeable dent in their 2-8-1 record this season. Fort Stockton's defeat dropped their record down to 10-7.