Vanden and Vacaville are an even 5-5 against one another since April of 2019, but likely not for long. The Vanden Vikings will be playing at home against the Vacaville Bulldogs at 4:00 p.m. on Monday. Both teams come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Vanden put the finishing touches on their fifth blowout victory of the season on Friday. Everything went their way against Armijo as Vanden made off with a 12-2 victory. While fans of Vanden might be used to big wins, the ten-run margin marked the team's biggest one yet.
Chris Marley tossed a big game, tossing five innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits (he also only allowed one walk). He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Cayne Hill was a standout: he went 3-for-4 with six RBI, a run, and a double. Another player making a difference was Austin Hammerschmidt, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, Vacaville had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 2.5 runs), and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. Their pitchers stepped up to hand the Falcons a 2-0 shutout. That's two games straight that Vacaville has won by exactly two runs.
Vacaville also got a great performance from Nik Rostak as he didn't allow a single earned run while striking out 11 over five innings pitched.
At the plate, Caden Whitten was excellent, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances. Rome Griego was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing two bases while going 2-for-3.
Vanden has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a massive bump to their 9-6 record this season. As for Vacaville, their win bumped their record up to 13-5.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Monday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. Vanden has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.1 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Vacaville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.7. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
