The Trabuco Hills Mustangs will take on the Fountain Valley Barons at 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Trabuco Hills is coming into the contest hot, having won their last six games.
Trabuco Hills is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They had just enough and edged out Bonita 4-3.
Mike DeFrancesca spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered three runs (all of which were unearned) on three hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in 12 consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Ryan Luce was excellent, going 2-for-3 with two doubles, one run, and one RBI. Those two doubles gave him a new career-high. Evan Hall was another key player, going 2-for-3 with two runs.
Trabuco Hills was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .385. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Fountain Valley posted their closest victory since April 4th on Friday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against El Segundo, sneaking past 4-2.
Tyler Peshke made a splash no matter where he played. On the mound, he pitched one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. He also tossed no walks, which is notable because Fountain Valley is 8-2 when he allows at most two walks, but 8-11 otherwise. Peshke was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-4 with one run, one double, and one RBI.
In other pitching news, Nathan Martinez looked comfortable as he tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Fountain Valley is 8-4 when Martinez allows one or fewer earned runs, but 8-9 otherwise.
Back at the plate, the team relied heavily on Mikey Patterson, who went 2-for-3 with one run and one double.
Trabuco Hills pushed their record up to 21-7-1 with the win, which was their third straight at home. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Fountain Valley, their record is now 16-13.
