Smith Valley put another one in the bag on Saturday to keep their perfect season alive. They blew past the Excel Christian Warriors 12-2. Fans of Smith Valley have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout.
Gaston Rodriguez was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 13 batters over six innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off one hit. Rodriguez was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing two bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
In other batting news, Luke Lannom was incredible, scoring three runs and stealing five bases while getting on base in two of his three plate appearances. Another player making a difference was Parker Roseberry, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-4.
On Excel Christian's side, they saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jonah Calderas, who went 1-for-2 with a home run. Calderas has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two hits in three consecutive pitching appearances. Tommy Schoech was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing two bases while getting on base in two of his three plate appearances.
Even though they lost, Excel Christian didn't let batters stay on the plate for long and finished the game with 14 strikeouts. That's the most strikeouts they've managed all season.
Smith Valley's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 7-0. They've been dominating during the matches in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 13.7 runs. As for Excel Christian, they are on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 2-5.
Smith Valley will have a chance to go back-to-back against Excel Christian: the pair will be back at it again later today.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
