Clairemont hasn't had much luck against Otay Ranch recently, but that could start to change on Saturday. The Chieftains will be playing in front of their home fans against the Mustangs at 10:30 a.m. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Clairemont 2.4, Otay Ranch 4) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Clairemont fought the good fight in their extra-innings matchup against Imperial on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Tigers by a score of 5-3. The Chieftains have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Jackson Cleary 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 one unearned) run off three hits. He has been consistent : he hasn't given up more than one earned run in six consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Clairemont saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Diego Matsumoto, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-5.
Meanwhile, Otay Ranch came tearing into Thursday's game with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5.3 runs), and they left with even more momentum. Their pitchers stepped up to hand the Mariners an 11-0 shutout. That 11 run margin sets a new team best for the Mustangs this season.
Moises Aguilar tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits over five innings pitched. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in strikeouts (five).
On the hitting side, Otay Ranch let Jake Medina and Dimas Acevedo run wild. Medina went 2-for-5 with three RBI, two runs, and one triple, while Acevedo went a perfect 1-for-1 with four RBI, one triple, and one run. Those four RBI gave Acevedo a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Carlos Martinez, who scored two runs while going 3-for-3.
Otay Ranch kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 11 hits. That's the most hits they've managed all season.
Otay Ranch pushed their record up to 12-4 with the win, which was their third straight at home. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Clairemont, their loss dropped their record down to 7-5.
