The El Cerrito Gauchos will take on the Freedom Falcons at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with El Cerrito sitting on eight straight wins and Freedom on three.
El Cerrito is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They blew past San Rafael 9-1.
AJ Bissell
| 05/20/25 vs San Rafael | 1 |
| 05/14/25 vs Albany | 0 |
| 04/30/25 @ Albany | 1 |
AJ Bissell spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned run on one hit and racked up seven Ks. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Kamal Bhatt was excellent, going 1-for-3 with two runs and one stolen base. Another player making a difference was Ellis Fuller, who earned one run and two stolen bases.
El Cerrito always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .515. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as San Rafael only posted an OBP of .200.
Meanwhile, it may have taken eight innings to finish the job, but Freedom ultimately got the result they hoped for on Tuesday. They came out on top against James Logan by a score of 6-3.
Freedom also let their pitcher toss all eight innings and he was also dialed-in: Colton Vick gave up just two earned (and one unearned) runs on eight hits.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Dylan DeLauter, who went 1-for-4 with one home run and two RBI. Landon Clenney was another key player, going 2-for-4 with one triple, two RBI, and one double.
El Cerrito pushed their record up to 20-7 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.7 runs on average over those games. As for Freedom, they now have a winning record of 13-12.
El Cerrito couldn't quite finish off Freedom in their previous meeting back in March of 2022 and fell 4-2. Can the Gauchos avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
