Baseball Preview: Shafter Generals vs. Kennedy Thunderbirds
The Shafter Generals will be playing at home against the Kennedy Thunderbirds at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Shafter stacked a sixth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard last Thursday. They never let McFarland onto the board and left with an 11-0 win. The victory was nothing new for Shafter as they're now sitting on three straight.
Alex Casanova-Balderrama made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and only one hit while striking out 11 over five innings pitched. Casanova-Balderrama was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-2 with three RBI.
In other batting news, Shafter let Joaquin Garza and Jesus Paez loose on the outfield. Garza scored three runs and stole two bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances, while Paez scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-2. Matteo Martinez was another key contributor, scoring two runs and stealing a base while getting on base in two of his three plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Kennedy narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past McFarland 2-1. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Kennedy.
Miguel Gutierrez spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned run on one hit and racked up 11 Ks. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in four consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Kennedy saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Espn Cantu, who scored a run while going 1-for-2.
Shafter's victory bumped their record up to 10-5. As for Kennedy, their win ended a four-game drought at home and bumped them up to 5-13.
Shafter might still be hurting after the 15-0 defeat they got from Kennedy in their previous meeting back in April of 2023. Thankfully for Shafter, Julian Orozco (who didn't allow a single earned run and only one hit while striking out 13 over six innings pitched) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
