The Laguna Creek Cardinals are taking a road trip to challenge the Pleasant Grove Eagles at 4:00 p.m. on Monday. One thing working in Laguna Creek's favor is that they have posted at least ten runs in their last three matches.
Pleasant Grove's hitters are going to have their work cut out for them on Monday: Laguna Creek hadn't allowed a single run the last three times they've hit the field. The Cardinals never let Sheldon get on the board and left with a 10-0 win on Friday. The victory continues a trend for the Cardinals in their matchups with the Huskies: they've now won four in a row.
Not much got past Joseph Rumbaoa, who gave up just three hits and racked up eight Ks to keep Sheldon off the board. Rumbaoa has been consistent: he hasn't given up more than two walks in six consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Laguna Creek got a massive performance out of KJ Winn, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with three stolen bases, two runs, and two doubles. Those two doubles gave Winn a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Tyger Peterson, who went 3-for-4 with two runs, two RBI, and one double.
Laguna Creek always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .541. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Sheldon only posted an OBP of .200.
Meanwhile, Pleasant Grove hadn't done well against Franklin recently (they were 0-9 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. The Eagles came out on top against the Wildcats by a score of 3-2 (the very same score they lost by in their prior game). The win was a breath of fresh air for the Eagles as it put an end to their four-game losing streak.
Justin Dougan tossed a big game, tossing 6.2 innings while giving up just two earned runs off nine hits.
On the hitting side, Pleasant Grove saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Liam Bantau, who went 1-for-3 with one run and one double.
Laguna Creek pushed their record up to 13-10 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 12.7 runs over those games. As for Pleasant Grove, their record now sits at 13-11.
Laguna Creek suffered a grim 17-0 defeat to Pleasant Grove when the teams last played back in May of 2021. Can the Cardinals avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
