The Poly Bears will head out on the road to face off against the Liberty Bison at 3:15 p.m. on Friday. Poly has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the contest with four straight defeats, while Liberty will come in with three straight victories.
Poly had taken Moreno Valley down for two straight games at home, but that winning streak came to an end on Wednesday. The Bears fell just short of the Vikings by a score of 8-7. That's two games in a row now that the Bears have lost by just one run.
Maddox Hackworth was cooking despite his team's loss, going a perfect 4-for-4 with one home run and two runs. Another player making a difference was Matt Henry, who went 2-for-5 with one home run and three runs.
The home team had won the previous two meetings between Liberty and Paloma Valley, and Liberty kept the tradition alive. The Bison walked away with a 7-3 win over the Wildcats on Wednesday.
Martin Naranjo looked comfortable as he pitched four innings while giving up just two earned runs off three hits.
At the plate, Matthew Schaeffer and Adrick Brown did most of the damage at the plate: Schaeffer went 1-for-3 with one home run, while Brown went 1-for-3 with one run, one double, and one RBI. That home run was Schaeffer's first of the season. Xzavian Mazariegos was another key player, going 2-for-3 with three RBI.
Poly's loss dropped their record down to 13-9. As for Liberty, they now have a winning record of 11-10.
Poly came out on top in a nail-biter against Liberty when the teams last played on April 10th, sneaking past 6-5. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Bears since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps