Baseball Game Preview: San Lorenzo Valley Cougars vs. North Salinas Vikings

The San Lorenzo Valley Cougars will face off against the North Salinas Vikings at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. San Lorenzo Valley has now lost seven straight, leaving the team hunting for their first win since March 15.

On Friday, San Lorenzo Valley came up short against Scotts Valley and fell 6-3.

Jordan Renteria was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he tossed six innings while giving up just one earned (and five unearned) runs off five hits.

On the hitting side, Jaden Shabry was cooking despite his team's loss, scoring a run while going 1-for-4. Dominic Aguilar also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask North Salinas). They never let Gonzales get on the board and left with a 15-0 win on Thursday. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest victory of the season.

Preston Hobbs and David Avina did most of the damage at the plate: Hobbs scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances, while Avina scored a run and stole a base while going 3-for-3. That's the most hits Avina has posted since back in March of 2024. Julian Gabriel was another key player, scoring two runs while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.

North Salinas always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .730. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.

The win got North Salinas back to even at 3-3. As for San Lorenzo Valley, their loss dropped their record down to 1-10.

Everything went San Lorenzo Valley's way against North Salinas when the teams last played back in May of 2019, as San Lorenzo Valley made off with a 17-2 victory. Will the Cougars repeat their success, or do the Vikings have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.