The Simi Valley Pioneers will take on the Royal Highlanders at 3:30 p.m. on Monday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Simi Valley sitting on 13 straight wins and Royal on six.
On Friday, Simi Valley beat Moorpark 5-2.
Greg Lopez spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on five hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in 12 consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Rowan Schmidt was excellent, going 2-for-4 with one triple, one run, and one RBI. That triple was his first of the season. The team also got some help courtesy of Danny Pina, who went 2-for-4 with two RBI and one run.
Simi Valley was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .379. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .308 or higher in four consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Royal gave up the first runs on Friday, but they didn't let that get them down. Everything went their way against Camarillo as they made off with a 10-1 victory. The Highlanders might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 11 contests by seven runs or more this season.
Royal also got a great performance from Dean Barkman as he struck out nine batters over six innings while giving up just one earned run off eight hits. That's the most strikeouts Barkman has posted since back in March.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Matthew Stout, who went 1-for-4 with three RBI, two runs, and one double. Zachary Nagy was another key player, going 2-for-5 with one run and one RBI.
Simi Valley pushed their record up to 21-5 with the win, which was their seventh straight on the road. The road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.1 runs on average over those games. As for Royal, their win bumped their record up to 22-4.
Both Simi Valley and Royal just can't seem to miss. The Pioneers have been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 9.1 hits per game. However, it's not like Royal struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 4.5 hits. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.