Baseball Preview: Port of Los Angeles Polar Bears vs. King/Drew Golden Eagles
The Port of Los Angeles Polar Bears will be playing in front of their home fans against the King/Drew Golden Eagles at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams are coming into the match red-hot, with Port of Los Angeles sitting on six straight wins and King/Drew on three.
On Monday, Port of Los Angeles beat Locke 12-7.
Josiah Ripley made a splash no matter where he played. On the mound, he struck out six batters over five innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off three hits. Ripley has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive pitching appearances. Ripley was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing four bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
In other batting news, Port of Los Angeles let Anthony Garcia and Ethan Vasquez loose on the outfield. Garcia scored three runs and stole seven bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances, while Vasquez scored two runs and stole three bases while going 3-for-4. Another player making a difference was Owen Baugh, who scored two runs and stole four bases while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, King/Drew put the finishing touches on their third blowout victory of the season on Thursday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Locke a 10-0 shutout. That's two games straight that King/Drew has won by exactly ten runs.
Not much got past Danilo Meade, who gave up just two hits and racked up ten Ks to keep Locke off the board.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Anthony Valenzuela, who scored three runs while going 3-for-3. Joel Medrano was another key contributor, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3.
Port of Los Angeles has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-4 record this season. As for King/Drew, their victory bumped their record up to 6-4.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Tuesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Port of Los Angeles has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.6 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like King/Drew struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.8. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Port of Los Angeles couldn't quite finish off King/Drew when the teams last played back in May of 2023 and fell 4-2. Can Port of Los Angeles avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
