Baseball Game Preview: Menendez Falcons vs. Stanton Blue Devils

The Menendez Falcons will take on the Stanton Blue Devils at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The timing is sure in Menendez's favor as the team sits on three straight wins at home while Stanton has been banged up by three consecutive losses on the road.

Menendez will bounce into Friday's game after beating Ridgeview, who they had gone 0-9 against in their nine prior meetings. The Falcons had just enough and edged out the Panthers 7-6 on Thursday. That's two games straight that the Falcons have won by just one run.

Phillip McLaughlin looked comfortable as he tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. What's more, he posted three strikeouts, the most he's had since back in February.

JR Norton

Runs Batted In (Career)

04/03/25 vs Ridgeview	2
04/01/25 vs Ponte Vedra	1
03/27/25 vs Covenant School of Jacksonville	1
03/22/25 @ Rickards	1
03/17/25 @ St. Joseph Academy	1

On the hitting side, JR Norton and Ty Morin did most of the damage at the plate: Norton scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-4, while Morin scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances. The dominant performance also gave Norton a new career-high in RBI (two). Tripp Barkoskie was another key player, going 1-for-4 with one triple and one run.

Meanwhile, Stanton didn't have quite enough to beat Eagle's View on Thursday and fell 8-7.

Jose Figueroa was cooking despite his team's loss, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3. He has become a key player for Stanton: the team is 5-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 4-10 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Dan Exline, who scored a run while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

Menendez has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight matches. That's provided a massive bump to their 11-11 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.4 runs on average over those games. As for Stanton, their loss dropped their record down to 9-11.

Everything went Menendez's way against Stanton when the teams last played back in March of 2024, as Menendez made off with a 9-3 win. Do the Falcons have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Blue Devils turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.