Baseball Game Preview: Upper Lake Cougars vs. Clear Lake Cardinals

The Upper Lake Cougars are taking a road trip to take on the Clear Lake Cardinals at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Upper Lake has now lost nine straight, leaving the team hunting for their first win since March 24.

Tuesday just wasn't the day for Upper Lake's offense. They came up short against Fort Bragg on Tuesday, falling 17-0.

St. Helena typically has all the answers at home, but on Tuesday Clear Lake proved too difficult a challenge. They walked away with a 5-1 victory over the Saints. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Cardinals.

Adam Bruch JR spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned run on four hits and racked up ten Ks.

On the hitting side, Ryken Villanueva and Johnny Gonzales Jr did most of the damage at the plate: Villanueva went 3-for-4 with one stolen base and two RBI, while Gonzales Jr went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, one run, and one RBI. Gonzales Jr has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last four times he's played.

Clear Lake was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .387. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .308 or higher in four consecutive matches.

Clear Lake's record is now 10-4. As for Upper Lake, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-11.

Upper Lake might still be hurting after the 11-1 loss they got from Clear Lake in their previous meeting on April 1st. Can the Cougars avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.