Baseball Game Preview: Rio Mesa Spartans vs. Ventura Cougars

For the second straight game, Rio Mesa will face off against Ventura. The Spartans will be playing in front of their home fans against the Cougars at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

On Tuesday, Rio Mesa didn't have quite enough to beat Ventura and fell 4-2.

For Ventura's part, Wylan Nelson made a splash no matter where he played. On the mound, he struck out ten batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned runs off six hits (and only one walk). Nelson has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in ten consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two runs.

Nelson wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Josh Woodworth, who went 2-for-4 with two RBI. That's the most RBI Woodworth has posted since back in March.

Ventura was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .400. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive games.

Rio Mesa dropped their record down to 5-17-1 with the defeat, which was their ninth straight on the road. Even worse, they were so close so many times: the losses came by an average of only three runs. As for Ventura, they are on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 12 contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 17-6-1 record this season.