The Northridge Knights will challenge the Mather Rangers at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Mather will be up against a hot Northridge squad: the team just extended their winning streak to four. The Knights never let North Shore Country Day get on the board and left with a 16-0 victory on Wednesday. Surprisingly, this marked the Knights' fifth straight game in which the away team has come away the victor.
Meanwhile, Mather had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8 runs) and they went ahead and made it three on Thursday. They blew past the Warriors 16-2.
Jadier Castillo and Caden Krabill were major factors no matter where they played. On the mound, Castillo pitched 1.2 innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. Meanwhile, Krabill struck out eight batters over 3.1 innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits. Castillo also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Mather is 2-1 when he allows at most one earned run, but 7-8 otherwise. At the plate, Castillo went a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs, three RBI, and two doubles, while Krabill went a perfect 2-for-2 with three RBI, one stolen base, and one run. Those three RBI gave Krabill a new career-high.
In other batting news, David Goytia was incredible, going a perfect 3-for-3 with five stolen bases, three runs, and one RBI. He is becoming a predictor of Mather's success: when he posts at least two stolen bases the team is 9-4 (and 0-5 when he doesn't). Aaron Roman was another key player, going a perfect 2-for-2 with three runs, one double, and one RBI.
Mather always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .733. They are a perfect 5-0 when they post an OBP of .513 or better.
Northridge pushed their record up to 14-14 with the win, which was their fourth straight on the road. The road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 4.0 runs on average over those games. As for Mather, the win got them back to even at 9-9.
Everything went Northridge's way against Mather in their previous matchup back in April of 2023, as Northridge made off with a 12-0 victory. Will the Knights repeat their success, or do the Rangers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
