The Lathrop Spartans are taking a road trip to square off against the River Islands Riptide at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Lathrop has struggled recently with three defeats in a row, while River Islands will arrive with six straight victories.
Lathrop fell victim to Edison and their airtight pitching crew on Tuesday. They lost 6-0 to the Vikings.
Nazir Jones was cooking despite his team's loss, going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and one double. Tommy Hammond also deserves some recognition as he snagged his first stolen base of the season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask River Islands). They put the hurt on Stockton Christian with a sharp 25-4 win on Tuesday. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest victory of the season.
George Dayeh made a splash while hitting and pitching. He struck out six batters over three innings while giving up just one earned run but no hits. Dayeh was also solid in the batter's box, scoring three runs and stealing a base while getting on base in two of his four plate appearances.
In other batting news, Noah Uribe was incredible, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with four runs, two stolen bases, and four RBI. He is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now snagged at least one in each of the last four games he's played. Another player making a difference was Devyn Kotecha, who scored three runs while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances.
River Islands was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .429. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive matches.
River Islands' win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 6-1. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 12.8 runs over those games. As for Lathrop, their loss dropped their record down to 1-6.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Lathrop has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like River Islands struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.1 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.
