The Central Valley Hawks will face off against the Lathrop Spartans at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Central Valley will be strutting in after a win while Lathrop will be coming in after a loss.
Central Valley's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Thursday. They were the clear victors by a 9-0 margin over Johansen. Considering the Hawks have won six games by more than six runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
The team relied heavily on Chris Garcia, who scored two runs while going 3-for-3. What's more, he posted two RBI, the most he's had since back in February. Another player making a difference was Caden Mendonca, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 3-for-4.
Central Valley was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .412. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Johansen only posted a batting average of .048.
Meanwhile, Lathrop was not able to break out of their rough patch on Saturday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. They took a 4-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of Livingston.
Lathrop saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Vaugh Sanchez, who scored a run while going 2-for-4.
The victory made it two in a row for Central Valley and bumps their season record up to 12-7. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered a grand total of 1 runs in those games. As for Lathrop, their loss dropped their record down to 5-11.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Tuesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Central Valley has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Lathrop struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.2 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Central Valley was able to grind out a solid victory over Lathrop in their previous matchup back in March of 2017, winning 13-8. Will the Hawks repeat their success, or do the Spartans have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
