Baseball Preview: Green Valley Gators vs. Faith Lutheran Crusaders
Green Valley is 0-3 against Faith Lutheran since April of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Green Valley Gators are on the road again to play the Faith Lutheran Crusaders at 1:30 p.m. Green Valley is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.3 runs per game this season.
Green Valley is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They were the clear victor by a 15-7 margin over Liberty.
Brandon Callahan was incredible, scoring three runs while getting on base in all five of his plate appearances. TJ Shaw Jr. was another key contributor, scoring a run while going 3-for-4.
Meanwhile, Faith Lutheran faced Foothill in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Wednesday. Faith Lutheran walked away with a 3-0 win over Foothill.
Not much got past Cash Martin, who gave up just three hits to keep Foothill off the board. Martin has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Faith Lutheran saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Kingston Kela, who went 1-for-2 with two RBI. Another player making a difference was Christian Gross, who scored a run while going 2-for-3.
Green Valley's record is now 15-18. As for Faith Lutheran, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 24-8-1 record this season.
Thursday's matchup will be a test for both team's pitchers. Green Valley hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .316. However, it's not like Faith Lutheran struggles in that department as they've averaged .336. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Green Valley suffered a grim 9-2 defeat to Faith Lutheran in their previous meeting back in April. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Martin, who pitched six innings while giving up just two earned runs off five hits. Now that Green Valley knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
