Taft is 0-3 against Sotomayor since March of 2023 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Taft Raiders will be playing at home against the Sotomayor WILDCATS at 4:45 p.m. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.
While Taft has not struggled against Stevens recently, they managed to flip the script on Friday. Taft had just enough and edged Stevens out 6-5.
Dylan Caron looked comfortable as he pitched 1.2 innings while giving up no earned runs or hits (he also only allowed one walk). He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Nathan Hopping, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 3-for-4. Another player making a difference was Saybien Guzman, who scored two runs while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, Sotomayor had already won seven in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 3.9 runs), and they went ahead and made it eight on Friday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past the Hawks 7-6.
Wes Guardiola was incredible, going 1-for-3 with a home run, two runs, and two RBI. Isaac Staten was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing two bases while going 2-for-2.
Taft's victory ended a five-game drought on the road and puts them at 5-20-1. As for Sotomayor, they have been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 11 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 13-9 record this season.
Taft couldn't quite finish off Sotomayor in their previous meeting back in March and fell 3-1. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Guardiola, who tossed seven innings while giving up just one earned run off six hits (he also only allowed one walk). Now that Taft knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
