Baseball Preview: Branford Buccaneers vs. Lafayette Hornets
Branford is 1-9 against Lafayette since April of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Branford Buccaneers will be playing at home against the Lafayette Hornets at 7:00 p.m. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Thursday, Branford beat Williston 13-8. With that victory, Branford brought their scoring average up to 6.6 runs per game.
Chason Blocker was incredible, scoring two runs and stealing two bases while going 2-for-3. Andres Maysonet was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 3-for-5.
Meanwhile, Lafayette was able to grind out a solid win over Union County on Monday, taking the game 6-2. The victory was just what Lafayette needed coming off of a 9-2 defeat in their prior game.
Brayden Richardson was a major factor no matter where he played. He tossed two innings while giving up no earned run or hits. Richardson has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive pitching appearances. Richardson was also big at the plate, going 4-for-4 with three RBI.
In other batting news, Jt Cook was excellent, scoring three runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-4.
Branford's win bumped their record up to 6-8. As for Lafayette, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 13-2 record this season.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Tuesday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. Branford has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.5 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Lafayette struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.3. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Branford came up short against Lafayette in their previous matchup back in March, falling 10-7. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lafayette's Noah Lamb, who didn't allow a single earned run over four innings pitched. Now that Branford knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
