The Monta Vista Matadors will head out on the road to face off against the Saratoga Falcons at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Monta Vista came up short against Fremont on Tuesday, falling 9-2. That's two games in a row now that the Matadors have lost by exactly seven runs.
Monta Vista saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Tim Yin, who went 2-for-4 with one run.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Saratoga). They were the clear victors by an 18-3 margin over Lynbrook on Tuesday. Considering the Falcons have won four matchups by more than six runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.
Doug Bettinger was a major factor no matter where he played. He struck out ten batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits (and not a single walk). He has become a key player for Saratoga: the team is 2-1 when he allows at most one earned run, but 2-8 otherwise. Bettinger was also stellar in the batter's box, going 3-for-5 with four runs, one triple, and two RBI. Those four runs gave him a new career-high.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Aiden Chen, who got on base in four of his five plate appearances with four RBI, one triple, and one run. Fletcher Dubin was another key player, going 1-for-3 with three RBI, two runs, and one stolen base.
Saratoga always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .556. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Lynbrook only posted an OBP of .259.
This is the second loss in a row for Monta Vista and nudges their season record down to 12-7. As for Saratoga, their record now sits at 4-9.
Monta Vista came out on top in a nail-biter against Saratoga when the teams last played on April 1st, sneaking past 4-2. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Matadors since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
