The Half Moon Bay Cougars will challenge the Lincoln Mustangs at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Half Moon Bay will bounce into Friday's match after beating Carlmont, who they had gone 1-6 against in their seven prior meetings. Half Moon Bay walked away with a 5-2 victory over Carlmont on Tuesday.
Kai Kung spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned runs on six hits. He also tossed a walk, which is notable because Half Moon Bay is 2-1 when he allows at most one walk, but 0-3 otherwise.
Riley Jackson
| 03/11/25 @ Carlmont | 3 |
| 03/07/24 vs Cupertino | 2 |
| 03/03/25 @ Cupertino | 1 |
| 03/01/25 vs Prospect | 1 |
| 02/26/25 vs Mountain View | 1 |
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Riley Jackson, who scored three runs while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in runs.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Lincoln, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Wednesday. Everything went their way against Mission last Thursday as Lincoln made off with a 10-2 win. The victory continues a trend for the Mustangs in their matchups with the Bears: they've now won eight in a row.
Aidan Castaneda made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing five innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off three hits. That one earned run gave him a new career-low. He was also big at the plate, scoring two runs and stealing Two bases. while going 1-for-3. Those runs were his first of the season.
In other pitching news, Santino Villasenor looked comfortable as he tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. What's more, he gave up only one walk, the fewest he's had since back in April of 2024.
Back at the plate, Lincoln let Xavier Malizia and Wyatt Toloski run wild. Malizia scored a run while going 1-for-2, while Toloski scored a run while going 2-for-4. Those hits marked the first that Toloski got this season. Nicholas Chiu was another key player, scoring a run and stealing Two bases. while going 1-for-4.
Lincoln pushed their record up to 2-4 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to hits: they averaged an imposing 10.25 hits in those games compared to only 4.2 in the others. As for Half Moon Bay, their victory bumped their record up to 2-4.
Half Moon Bay came out on top in a nail-biter against Lincoln in their previous meeting back in March of 2024, sneaking past 8-7. Will Half Moon Bay repeat their success, or does Lincoln have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
