The Standley Lake Gators will head out on the road to challenge the Pomona Panthers at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Standley Lake is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.3 runs per game this season.
Standley Lake will bounce into Saturday's match after beating D'Evelyn, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. The Gators walked away with a 7-2 victory over the Jaguars on Friday. Winning may never get old, but the Gators sure are getting used to it with their third in a row.
Carter Casias and Eric Baumer were major factors no matter where they played. Throwing, Casias tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. Meanwhile, Baumer pitched six innings while giving up just two earned runs off nine hits. At the plate, Casias got on base in two of his four plate appearances with two runs and one stolen base, while Baumer went 2-for-3 with two RBI.
In other batting news, Marc Garcia was excellent, going 2-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one double. The team also got some help courtesy of Titus Schrecengost, who went 1-for-3 with three RBI and one double.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Pomona, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Thursday. They came out on top against Conifer by a score of 5-2 on Friday.
Pomona also got a great performance from Truett Neiman as he pitched six innings while giving up just two earned runs off seven hits. The dominant performance also gave Neiman a new career-high in strikeouts (four).
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Damani Chavez, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run.
Standley Lake now has a winning record of 11-10. As for Pomona, their record is now 7-14.
Pomona's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Standley Lake has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 9.6 hits per game. It's a different story for Pomona, though, as they've been averaging 9.2 hits. Given Standley Lake's sizable advantage in that area, the Panthers will need to find a way to close that gap.
Standley Lake came out on top in a nail-biter against Pomona when the teams last played back in April, sneaking past 14-12. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Gators since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
