The Central Catholic Raiders will face off against the Sierra Timberwolves at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Having struggled with three defeats in a row, Central Catholic turned things around against Lompoc on Friday. They skirted past the Braves 3-2. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Raiders have posted since May 29, 2024.
Marcus Davenport spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on two hits.
On the hitting side, Central Catholic's win was truly a team effort as three different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Joe Farinha, who went 1-for-2 with one run.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Sierra). They were the clear victors by a 13-3 margin over Mountain House on Friday. The Timberwolves not only won on Friday, but they posted their biggest win since March 31st (when they won 11-1).
Collins Schluer made a big impact no matter where he played. He struck out seven batters over six innings while giving up three earned runs off four hits (and only one walk). Schluer was also big at the plate, getting on base in four of his five plate appearances with two stolen bases, two RBI, and one run. He has become a key player for Sierra: the team is 2-1 when he posts at least two stolen bases, but 5-16 otherwise.
In other batting news, Rudy Barney and Ryan Reyes did most of the damage at the plate: Barney went 3-for-4 with four RBI and one run, while Reyes went 2-for-4 with three RBI, one stolen base, and one run. Those three RBI gave Reyes a new career-high. Riley Kane was another key player, going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and one run.
Sierra was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .438. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in five consecutive games.
Central Catholic's victory bumped their record up to 18-9. As for Sierra, their win ended a five-game drought at home and bumped them up to 7-17.
Everything went Central Catholic's way against Sierra when the teams last played back in March, as Central Catholic made off with a 9-0 victory. Will the Raiders repeat their success, or do the Timberwolves have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
