The Pioneer Mustangs will be playing at home against the Branham Bruins at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams have allowed few runs on average, (Pioneer: 3.8, Branham: 3.6) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Last Thursday, Pioneer came up short against Willow Glen and fell 8-5.
Andrew Watters was cooking despite his team's loss, scoring a run and stealing two bases while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances. Another player making a difference was Adam Larson, who scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Branham had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 2.3 runs), and they went ahead and made it four on Thursday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past the Acorns 2-1.
Luka Knezevic spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned run on nine hits and racked up eight Ks. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in three consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Branham's win was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Nolan Mannina, who went 1-for-2 with an RBI.
Pioneer now has a losing record at 5-6. As for Branham, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 9-2 record this season.
Pioneer was able to grind out a solid victory over Branham in their previous matchup back in April of 2023, winning 4-0. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Branham's Nolan Rodriguez, who struck out seven batters over six innings while giving up just one earned (and three unearned) runs off six hits. Now that he won't be playing on Tuesday, will it be that much easier for Pioneer to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
