Baseball Preview: Foothill Trojans vs. East Bakersfield Blades
The Foothill Trojans will head out on the road to face off against the East Bakersfield Blades at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Foothill is looking to tack on another W to their five-game streak on the road.
Last Wednesday, Foothill narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Golden Valley 5-3.
Ramon Diaz made a big impact no matter where he played. On the mound, he tossed 2.1 innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. Diaz has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up a single earned run in four consecutive pitching appearances. Diaz was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 1-for-3.
Diaz wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Reeco Cardoza, who scored a run while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances.
Meanwhile, East Bakersfield put the finishing touches on their sixth blowout victory of the season on Friday. They put the hurt on West with a sharp 17-2 win. While fans of East Bakersfield might be used to big wins, the 15-run margin marked the team's biggest victory yet this season.
Like Foothill, East Bakersfield also got a great game from a two-way player: Esiah Santiago. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out seven batters over five innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off two hits. Santiago was also stellar in the batter's box, going 3-for-5 with four RBI, two doubles, and a run.
In other batting news, Carlos Vela Escalera was a standout: he went 3-for-4 with two runs, two doubles, and a triple. Another player making a difference was Andrew Gonzalez, who scored two runs and stole two bases while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances.
Foothill has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won nine of their last ten contests, which provided a massive bump to their 10-5 record this season. As for East Bakersfield, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 8-10.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Wednesday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. Foothill has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.3 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like East Bakersfield struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.2. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Foothill skirted past East Bakersfield 6-5 in their previous meeting back in March. The rematch might be a little tougher for Foothill since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
