Baseball Preview: Lompoc Braves vs. Paso Robles Bearcats
The Lompoc Braves will be playing in front of their home fans against the Paso Robles Bearcats at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
Lompoc is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering Mission College Prep just ended the team's four-game winning streak on Friday. They fell just short of the Royals by a score of 6-4.
Jack Jones put in work while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he struck out 11 batters over 6.2 innings while giving up four earned (and two unearned) runs off nine hits. Jones has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in five consecutive pitching appearances. Jones was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 2-for-3.
Jones wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Ignacio Lara, who scored a run while going 1-for-3. Lara has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one hit in four consecutive pitching appearances.
Meanwhile, Paso Robles scored the most runs they've had all season to find success on Thursday. They were the clear victor by a 21-3 margin over Orcutt Academy. Winning may never get old, but Paso Robles sure is getting used to it with their fifth in a row.
Like Lompoc, Paso Robles also got a great game from a two-way player: Xander Hermanson. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Hermanson was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3.
In other batting news, Jaiden Soboleski was a standout: he scored three runs and stole a base while going 4-for-4. Kenyon Rickson was another key contributor, going 2-for-4 with three runs, four RBI, and a stolen base.
Lompoc's loss ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 12-12. As for Paso Robles, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last nine matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 14-10 record this season.
Lompoc came up short against Paso Robles in their previous matchup back in March, falling 5-0. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Paso Robles' Talen Freitas, who didn't allow a single earned run and only one hit while striking out eight over five innings pitched. Now that Lompoc knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
