Baseball Preview: Morse Tigers vs. University City Centurions
The Morse Tigers will head out on the road to challenge the University City Centurions at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Morse comes in on eight and University City on 13.
Morse is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Valley Center 7-5.
Chris Marquez spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned (and three unearned) runs on ten hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in seven consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Marcus Westover and Fernando Jauregui did most of the damage at the plate: Westover scored a run and stole three bases while going 2-for-4, while Jauregui scored a run while going 3-for-4. Another player making a difference was Obed Gonzalez, who scored a run while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
Meanwhile, University City stacked a 17th blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Wednesday. They never let Sweetwater onto the board and left with a 7-0 win. That's two games straight that University City has won by exactly seven runs.
Jack Clark made a splash no matter where he played. On the mound, he kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out 18 over seven innings pitched. Clark was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with a double and an RBI.
In other batting news, Mateo Torres-Chapa was incredible, going 2-for-4 with four RBI, a triple, and a run. Jade Barth was another key contributor, scoring two runs while going 1-for-2.
Morse has been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 12 games, which provided a nice bump to their 17-11 record this season. As for University City, their victory was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 24-5.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Morse has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.4 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like University City struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.8. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Morse suffered a grim 8-1 defeat to University City in their previous meeting back in April. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of University City's Garret Gillum, who pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits. Now that Morse knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
