The Corona Panthers will be taking part in a tournament against the St. Mary's Rams at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Corona 1.4, St. Mary's 2.1) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Corona is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of California's top teams: Centennial, who was ranked 21st at the time (Corona was ranked first). The Panthers came out on top against the Huskies by a score of 10-5 on Thursday. The Panthers haven't had any issues with the Huskies recently, as the game was their seventh consecutive win against them.
Anthony Murphy was incredible, going 2-for-4 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI. Billy Carlson was another key player, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with one home run and two RBI.
Corona hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Centennial struck out 14 times.
Meanwhile, St. Mary's unfortunately witnessed the end of their 16-game winning streak on Wednesday. They fell 6-3 to Lodi. Rams fans who chose to attend the game sure picked the wrong one: it was the first time the team's lost against the Flames since on Wednesday.
St. Mary's also got a good showing from Giani Camacho, who pitched four innings while giving up just one earned run off four hits. What's more, Camacho gave up only zero walks, the fewest he's had over his last four matches.
On the hitting side, St. Mary's saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Alex Escalante, who went 1-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one double. Another was David Haggerty, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with one double.
Corona pushed their record up to 22-2 with the victory, which was their 14th straight on the road dating back to last season. Those road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.6 runs over those games. As for St. Mary's, their defeat was their first in the league, dropping their league record down to 10-1 and their overall record down to 18-5.
Both Corona and St. Mary's just can't seem to miss. The Panthers have been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 9.6 hits per game. However, it's not like St. Mary's struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 4 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.
