The Encinal Jets will venture away from home to challenge the Oakland Tech Bulldogs at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Encinal will aim to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each game than the last.
Encinal’s pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Wednesday. They put the hurt on Mt. Eden with a sharp 11-0 victory. With that win, the Jets brought their scoring average up to 6.3 runs per game.
Darren Olson looked comfortable as he tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn’t given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances.
Miles Acevedo
04/01/26 vs Mt. Eden203/18/26 vs Skyline103/06/26 @ St. Joseph Notre Dame102/26/26 vs Las Lomas105/07/25 @ College Prep1
At the plate, Evan Furuichi and Miles Acevedo did most of the damage at the plate: Furuichi went 2-for-3 with three RBI, one stolen base, and one run, while Acevedo went a perfect 1-for-1 with two runs, two RBI, and one double. Those two runs gave Acevedo a new career-high. Samir Sebihi was another key player, going a perfect 1-for-1 with three RBI and one run.
Encinal always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .538. That’s the best OBP they’ve posted all season.
Meanwhile, Oakland Tech fought the good fight in their extra-innings matchup against Piedmont on Thursday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Highlanders by a score of 6-5.
Elijah Rucker was cooking despite his team’s loss, getting on base in four of his five plate appearances with two stolen bases and one run. Another player making a difference was Kalen Thomas, who went 2-for-5 with one stolen base, one run, and one double.
Encinal pushed their record up to 11-2 with the victory, which was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.1 runs over those games. As for Oakland Tech, their loss dropped their record down to 6-6.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Encinal has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.6 strikeouts per game. However, it’s not like Oakland Tech struggles in that department as they’ve been averaging an even more impressive 6.7 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Encinal might still be hurting after the 7-1 defeat they got from Oakland Tech when the teams last played back in March of 2022. Can the Jets avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We’ll find out soon enough.