North had lost seven straight at home, but on Tuesday they dropped their record down to 5-16 to make it eight. They took a 6-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of the East Bakersfield Blades. Surprisingly, this marked the Stars' fourth straight game in which the away team has come away the victor.
North saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was BRANDAN THOMASSON, who went 2-for-3 with one RBI.
As for East Bakersfield, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 8-10. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.0 runs over those games.
On East Bakersfield's side, ESIAH SANTIAGO made a splash no matter where he played. On the mound, he struck out seven batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned run off six hits. SANTIAGO has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in three consecutive appearances. He was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in three of his five plate appearances with two stolen bases and one run. East Bakersfield is 3-1 when SANTIAGO posts two or more stolen bases, but 5-9 otherwise.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on SEBASTIAN MENDOZA, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two stolen bases and two runs. He is becoming a predictor of East Bakersfield's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is undefeated (and 5-10 when he doesn't). ANGEL SANTILLAN also deserves some recognition as he got his first hit of the season.
While North had to take the loss, they won't have to wait long to give it another shot: the pair's next game is a rematch scheduled at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
