Baseball Game Preview: ALA - West Foothills Guardians vs. Odyssey Institute Minotaur

The ALA - West Foothills Guardians will venture away from home to face off against the Odyssey Institute Minotaur at 3:45 p.m. on Monday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty run totals in their previous games.

ALA - West Foothills not only won on Friday, but they posted their biggest win since March 25th. Everything went their way against Parker as they made off with a 14-1 win. Considering the Guardians have won six games by more than six runs this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.

Lucas Brittan and Jaxson Garvey did most of the damage at the plate: Brittan went 2-for-3 with four RBI and one run, while Garvey scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. What's more, Garvey posted two RBI, the most he's had since back in March of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Gabe Kellett, who went 3-for-4 with one double and one RBI.

ALA - West Foothills was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .480. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Parker only posted a batting average of .118.

Meanwhile, while Odyssey Institute put up plenty of runs on Friday, the same can't be said for Highland Prep. The Minotaur came out on top against the Honey Badgers by a score of 13-0 (the very same score they lost by in their prior game).

Justin Bennett was a major factor no matter where he played. He struck out seven batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and not a single walk). He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two hits in three consecutive appearances. He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing two bases while going 1-for-2. Odyssey Institute is undefeated when Bennett posts two or more runs, but 3-6-1 otherwise.

In other batting news, Jonathan Gonzales was a standout: he scored a run and stole two bases while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances. Ezequiel Valenzuela also deserves some recognition as he snagged his first stolen bases of the season.

ALA - West Foothills has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 13-6 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.5 runs over those games. As for Odyssey Institute, the win got them back to even at 6-6-1.