Baseball Game Preview: Sanger Apaches vs. Taft Wildcats

The Sanger Apaches will take on the Taft Wildcats in a tournament on Saturday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Sanger's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. Everything went their way against Edison as they made off with a 10-0 victory. The result was nothing new for the Apaches, who have now won five games by ten runs or more so far this season.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Taft, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. They were the clear victors by a 9-0 margin over Chavez on Thursday. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest win the Wildcats have posted against the Titans since May 5, 2022.

Cash Clark made a splash while hitting and pitching. He didn't allow a single earned run while striking out seven over seven innings pitched. Clark was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring three runs and stealing a base while going 4-for-4. Those four hits gave him a new career-high.

In other batting news, Taft let KJ Downey and Dylan Clark run wild. Downey scored a run while going 2-for-3, while Clark scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2. Clark is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now snagged at least one in each of the last three games he's played.

Taft was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .417. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive matches.

Taft pushed their record up to 4-8 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.3 runs over those games. As for Sanger, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 8-6 record this season.

Sanger took their victory against Taft in their previous meeting back in March of 2024 by a conclusive 12-0 score. Do the Apaches have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Wildcats turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.