The Rancho Verde Mustangs will look to take advantage of their home field for the first time this season as they take on the Citrus Hill Hawks at 3:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Rancho Verde is coming home in high spirits after they had to open their season on the road against San Jacinto. Rancho Verde put the hurt on San Jacinto with a sharp 11-2 victory on Wednesday. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest win the Mustangs have posted since March 8, 2024.
Markus Villalvazo looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on David Hernandez, who scored two runs and stole four bases while going 2-for-3. That's the most runs he has posted since back in February of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Sebas Cazares, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, Citrus Hill made easy work of Indio on Tuesday and carried off an 11-1 victory.
Efren Urrea made a splash while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowed only a hit over four innings pitched. That's the fewest hits he has allowed since back in March of 2024. He was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two RBI.
In other batting news, Jordan Zamora and Gabriel Brion did most of the damage at the plate: Zamora scored three runs and stole a base while getting on base in three of his five plate appearances, while Brion scored two runs and stole a base while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances. Another player making a difference was Noe Mendoza, who scored two runs while going 2-for-5.
Citrus Hill was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .387. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Indio only posted a batting average of .045.
Rancho Verde was able to grind out a solid win over Citrus Hill in their previous meeting back in February of 2024, winning 4-1. Does Rancho Verde have another victory up their sleeve, or will Citrus Hill turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
