Glenn hit five batters to raise the La Mirada's season total to an astounding and alarming 25, led by junior shortstop Andres Rodriguez with six and five each to bodies that can take it a little easier, senior catcher Nick Mandry and senior leftfielder Justin Torres;
Mandry, with two more RBI, raised his team-leading total to 15 (averaging more than one per game) and his slugging pct. stands at an impressive .618;
Senior Mike Piazza's bat continued to heat up with a ringing run-scoring single down the leftfield line that had double written all over it but he chose to stumble twice and fall once around the firstbase bag;
Despite a slow start offensively, the Matadores have five players with on-base percentages of .500 or more. Ask any stat geek which is a more sophisticated way to evaluate a player's worth, batting average or on-base percentage, and you'll likely get 100% agreement on the latter;
With two more hits and his eighth walk, Rodriguez upped his squad-leading on-base mark to .531;
Rodriguez also leads the team with 12 runs, followed by senior centerfielder Karl Perez's 11, including two in the second meeting against Glenn. After another walk, Perez is tied for the team lead in base on balls with Rodriguez at eight;
With a hit each Thursday, Perez (.361) and Mandry (.353) maintained the two highest batting marks for players with more than 15 at-bats;
Despite two errors Thursday, the Matadores continued to play top-level defense of late. Over the past two years, Piazza has been successful in 288 of his 290 chances for a .993 pct., with one of the errors a technicality because he threw a perfect strike to thirdbase but two teammates standing there looked at the other to take the throw;
Junior righthanded reliever Jordan Rosenberg threw another scoreless frame against Glenn with the help of a sweet, inning-ending double play started on a grounder scooped nicely by senior firstbaseman Mason Peacock, who threw perfectly to Rodriguez, who in turn fired back to Rosenberg hustling to cover the bag;
Senior righthander Alex Pedroza also had another impressive outing by striking out two and facing the minimum in the seventh;
During their four-game winning streak that started with their own version of the Rally Monkey--a team dinner hosted by The Peacock Family--the Matadores have outscored their opponents by a wide, wide margin. To be exact: 43-3.
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