Baseball Game Preview: Santana Sultans vs. El Cajon Valley Braves

For the second straight game, Santana will face off against El Cajon Valley. The Sultans will look to defend their home field on Friday against the Braves at 4:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Santana has three straight wins, El Cajon Valley has 13 straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

Santana is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They were the clear victors by a 23-1 margin over El Cajon Valley on Thursday. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest victory of the season.

Gavin Kelly made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. He has become a key player for Santana: the team is 2-1 when he allows at most two hits, but 6-9 otherwise. Kelly was also big at the plate, earning four RBI, one run, and one stolen base. Those four RBI gave him a new career-high.

In other pitching news, Brandon Landers looked comfortable as he pitched one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. He is becoming a predictor of Santana's success: when he allows at most three hits the team is 2-1 (and 6-9 when he doesn't).

Joseph Dibble

Runs (Career)

04/24/25 @ El Cajon Valley	3
04/01/25 vs Murrieta Mesa	2
04/02/25 vs Vista	1
03/26/25 @ San Ysidro	1
03/19/25 vs University City	1

Back at the plate, Santana got a big performance out of Joseph Dibble, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with three runs. Those three runs gave Dibble a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Brady Johnson, who went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI.

Santana always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .533. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.

Santana's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 8-10. The road victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.3 runs over those games. As for El Cajon Valley, their loss dropped their record down to 0-11.