Baseball Game Preview: Caldera vs. Mountain View Cougars

For the second straight game, Caldera will face off against Mountain View. Caldera will be playing at home against Mountain View at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Caldera is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.4 runs per game this season.

Caldera will bounce into Friday's game after beating Mountain View, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. Caldera narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Mountain View 5-4. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory Caldera has posted since April 24th.

Ty Hattenhauer and Carson Downing made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, Hattenhauer pitched one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. Meanwhile, Downing tossed six innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off five hits. What's more, he posted two strikeouts, the most he's had since back in April. At bat, Hattenhauer went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and one RBI, while Downing went 1-for-3 with one run and one double. Hattenhauer is becoming a predictor of Caldera's success: when he posts at least two stolen bases the team is 5-1 (and 7-11 when he doesn't).

In other batting news, Caldera let Colin Ringer and Lucas Ninneman run wild. Ringer went a perfect 1-for-1 with one home run, while Ninneman went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, one run, and one RBI. Caldera is 4-1 when Ninneman posts two or more stolen bases, but 8-11 otherwise.

Caldera pushed their record up to 12-12 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. Those road victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.0 runs over those games. As for Mountain View, they moved to 11-10 with that defeat, which also ended their four-game winning streak.