Valley Christian has enjoyed the comforts of home their last three games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will square off against the Saint Francis Lancers on Saturday. Valley Christian's pitching crew has only allowed 1.9 runs per game this season, so Saint Francis' hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Valley Christian is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of California's top teams: Junipero Serra, who was ranked eighth in their home state at the time (Valley Christian was ranked ninth). Valley Christian came out on top in a nail-biter against Junipero Serra on Thursday and snuck past 4-3.
The team relied heavily on Rocco Muccilli, who went 2-for-2 with a home run and two RBI.
Meanwhile, after a string of five wins, Saint Francis' good fortune finally ran out last Tuesday. They fell just short of St. Ignatius College Preparatory by a score of 5-4. The loss continues a trend for Saint Francis in their matchups with St. Ignatius College Preparatory: they've now lost four in a row.
Saint Francis also got a good showing from Ian McMahon, who tossed four innings while giving up just one earned run off four hits. McMahon has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Brent Valentine was cooking despite his team's loss, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with a triple and a run. Another player making a difference was Tysen Ellis, who scored a run while going 1-for-4.
Valley Christian has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 26-4 record this season. As for Saint Francis, their defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 13-13-1.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Valley Christian has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Saint Francis struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.8. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Valley Christian skirted past Saint Francis 3-1 in their previous meeting back in April. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Saint Francis' Landon Kim, who pitched seven innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off six hits. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Valley Christian still be able to contain Kim? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
