Baseball Game Preview: Valor South Austin Falcons vs. LBJ Austin Jaguars

The Valor South Austin Falcons will head out to challenge the LBJ Austin Jaguars at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty run totals in their previous games.

Last Wednesday, Valor South Austin made easy work of Grace Academy and carried off a 14-1 victory. The win continues a trend for the Falcons in their matchups with Grace Academy: they've now won four in a row.

Valor South Austin let Brady Campbell and Elias Moreno run wild. Campbell got on base in all three of his plate appearances with two runs, one triple, and one RBI, while Moreno scored two runs and stole a base while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances. That triple was Campbell's first of the season. Hank Perucca was another key player, scoring two runs and stealing two bases while going 1-for-2.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for LBJ Austin, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. They blew past Austin Achieve 15-1 on Friday. The victory was some much needed relief for the Jaguars as it spelled an end to their seven-game losing streak.

LBJ Austin also got a great performance from Jacovy Smith-Poole as he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out 11 over five innings pitched. Those 11 strikeouts gave Smith-Poole a new career-high.

At the plate, Joshua Covington was a standout: he scored two runs and stole three bases while going 2-for-3. He is becoming a predictor of LBJ Austin's success: when he posts at least two stolen bases the team is 2-1 (and 0-11 when he doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of Efrain Cortez-Perez, who scored three runs and stole two bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

LBJ Austin was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .476. That's the best batting average they've posted all season.

Valor South Austin pushed their record up to 8-3 with the win, which was their fourth straight on the road. Those road victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.8 runs over those games. As for LBJ Austin, their win was their first in the district, bumping their district record up to 1-3 and their overall record up to 2-12.