Baseball Game Preview: Monrovia Wildcats vs. Rialto Knights

The Monrovia Wildcats will square off against the Rialto Knights at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Rialto will be up against a hot Monrovia squad: the team just extended their winning streak to six. Monrovia never let Diamond Bar get on the board and left with a 9-0 victory on Tuesday. The result was nothing new for the Wildcats, who have now won three matchups by nine runs or more so far this season.

James Quesenbery tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowed only two hits over five innings pitched. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one walk any time he's pitched this season.

On the hitting side, Isaias Hernandez and Julian Fernandez did most of the damage at the plate: Hernandez scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3, while Fernandez scored two runs while going 2-for-3. That's the most runs Fernandez has posted since back in March of 2024. Another player making a difference was Troy Grise, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-4.

Meanwhile, Rialto's hitters rose to the challenge against a Mustangs pitching crew that boasted an average of only 3.83 runs allowed on Friday. Rialto blew past Muir 11-1. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Knights.

Izzeah Zepeda made a splash no matter where he played. He tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Zepeda was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring two runs while going 2-for-2.

In other batting news, Aydin Ayala was excellent, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-3. Daniel Nunez was another key player, going 1-for-2 with two RBI and one double.

Rialto was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .391. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Muir only posted a batting average of .211.

Monrovia's win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 6-1. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.8 runs on average over those games. As for Rialto, their victory bumped their record up to 2-0.