Baseball Game Preview: Kennedy Fighting Irish vs. Katella Knights

The Kennedy Fighting Irish will challenge the Katella Knights at 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Kennedy 3.4, Katella 2.7) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Katella will be up against a hot Kennedy team: the squad just extended their winning streak to four. The Fighting Irish walked away with a 5-2 win over Segerstrom on Friday.

Anthony Hernandez made a splash while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out seven batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned runs off five hits (and only one walk). Hernandez was also big at the plate, getting on base in four of his six plate appearances with one stolen base.

Travis Bergmann

Runs (Career)

04/18/25 @ Segerstrom	3
02/24/24 vs South East	2
04/01/25 @ Buena Park	1
03/28/25 @ Moreno Valley	1
03/22/25 vs Montclair	1

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Travis Bergmann, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with four stolen bases and three runs. Those three runs gave him a new career-high.

The scorekeeper got an easy start on Friday as neither Katella nor Buena Park made it on the board until the sixth inning. The Knights' pitchers stepped up to hand the Coyotes a 2-0 shutout. The victory continues a trend for the Knights in their matchups with the Coyotes: they've now won four in a row.

Anthony Garcia looked comfortable as he pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He has been consistent for a while: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in 11 consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Kevin Reyes Mejia was excellent, going 2-for-4 with one stolen base, one double, and one RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Andrew Ureno, who got on base in two of his four plate appearances with one stolen base and one run.

Kennedy pushed their record up to 14-9 with the win, which was their fifth straight on the road. The road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.8 runs on average over those games. As for Katella, their win bumped their record up to 16-3.

Kennedy beat Katella 4-1 in their previous meeting last Friday. Will the Fighting Irish repeat their success, or do the Knights have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.