The Central Valley Hawks will take on the Los Banos Tigers at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Central Valley has six straight wins, Los Banos has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Central Valley barely beat Ceres the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Hawks put the hurt on the Bulldogs with a sharp 9-1 victory on Thursday. The Hawks might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won nine matchups by seven runs or more this season.
Central Valley got a great performance from Nicholas Dominguez as he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit over five innings pitched. Dominguez has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in five consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Ezequiel Verduzco, who went 2-for-3 with one triple, one stolen base, and two RBI. Andre Flores was another key player, going 2-for-3 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run.
Meanwhile, Los Banos fell victim to El Capitan and their airtight pitching crew last Friday. They came up short against the Gauchos, falling 10-0. Considering the last time the Tigers couldn't score was back in February, the team can't take the result too hard.
Central Valley pushed their record up to 16-7 with the win, which was their third straight at home. Those home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.3 runs over those games. As for Los Banos, their defeat dropped their record down to 7-10.
Everything went Central Valley's way against Los Banos when the teams last played back in April of 2021, as Central Valley made off with a 10-2 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Hawks since the squad 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
