Baseball Game Preview: Mark Keppel Aztecs vs. Montebello Oilers

Mark Keppel hasn't had much luck against Montebello recently, but that could start to change on Friday. Mark Keppel will look to defend their home field against Montebello at 3:45 p.m. The last three games Mark Keppel has played have been within two runs, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.

Tuesday just wasn't the day for Mark Keppel's offense. They fell just short of Montebello by a score of 1-0 on Tuesday. That's two games in a row now that the Aztecs have lost by just one run.

For Montebello's part, Fernando Cruz made a splash while hitting and pitching. He didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out eight over seven innings pitched. Those eight strikeouts gave Cruz a new career-high. He was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 2-for-3.

Cruz wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Devin Lopez, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with two stolen bases.

The victory was the eighth in a row for Montebello, bringing their record up to 9-3. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to hits: they averaged an imposing 13.5 hits in those games compared to only five in the others. As for Mark Keppel, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-11.