Baseball Game Preview: Laguna Creek Cardinals vs. Central Valley Hawks

The Laguna Creek Cardinals will face off against the Central Valley Hawks at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Laguna Creek will be strutting in after a win while Central Valley will be coming in after a loss.

Central Valley will be up against a hot Laguna Creek team: the squad just extended their winning streak to three. Laguna Creek was the clear victors by a 12-2 margin over Bella Vista on Tuesday.

Ian Larot was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, pitching five innings while giving up just two earned runs off five hits. Larot was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances.

Connor Elliott

Hits (Career)

02/25/25 @ Bella Vista	3
02/21/25 @ Burbank	1
02/20/25 vs Downey	1
03/19/24 vs Grant	1

In other batting news, Ryan Eddy and Connor Elliott did most of the damage at the plate: Eddy scored three runs while going 3-for-4, while Elliott scored two runs while going 3-for-4. The dominant performance also gave Elliott a new career-high in hits (three). Another player making a difference was Seth Lal, who scored two runs while going 2-for-4.

Meanwhile, Central Valley came up short against Pitman on Wednesday and fell 4-1. The match marked the Hawks' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.

Marcus Olivas was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he pitched five innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off three hits.

At the plate, Central Valley saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Mason Whitworth, who scored a run while going 1-for-3.

Central Valley's defeat dropped their record down to 3-2. As for Laguna Creek, they pushed their record up to 3-0 with the victory, which was their tenth straight on the road dating back to last season.

The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Laguna Creek has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Central Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.8 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.