The Aptos Mariners are taking a road trip to challenge the Soquel Knights at 4:00 p.m. on Monday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Aptos can't be too worried about heading out to take on Soquel: they just beat Silver Creek at home, who had been dominant on their own field up to that point. The Mariners blew past the Raiders 15-4 on Saturday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Mariners.
Damien Espinoza
| 05/10/25 @ Silver Creek | 4 |
| 04/04/25 @ Santa Cruz | 2 |
| 04/02/25 vs Harbor | 2 |
| 05/03/25 @ Los Altos | 1 |
| 04/22/25 vs San Lorenzo Valley | 1 |
Damien Espinoza was incredible, going 4-for-5 with two runs, one stolen base, and two RBI. Those four hits gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Alec Mendoza, who went 2-for-5 with two stolen bases, two runs, and one RBI.
Aptos was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .400. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Silver Creek only posted a batting average of .250.
Meanwhile, Soquel entered their tilt with Scotts Valley on Friday with 11 consecutive wins, and they'll enter their next game with 12. They walked away with a 4-1 victory over the Falcons.
Soquel also got a great performance from Luke Shoemaker as he tossed five innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits.
At the plate, Soquel's win was truly a team effort as seven different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Jake Escalante, who went 1-for-4 with one triple, one stolen base, and one run. That triple marked the first that Escalante has hit this season. Cash Moran was another, going 2-for-4 with two stolen bases and one run.
Soquel pushed their record up to 22-1 with the victory, which was their 12th straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.0 runs over those games. As for Aptos, their record now sits at 10-13.
Aptos came up short against Soquel when the teams last played two weeks ago, falling 7-3. Can the Mariners avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
