Baseball Game Preview: Gruver Greyhounds vs. Tahoka Bulldogs

The Gruver Greyhounds will square off against the Tahoka Bulldogs on Thursday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Gruver comes in on 17 and Tahoka on three.

Gruver is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. Their pitchers stepped up to hand Lockney a 1-0 shutout. Those one runs were actually the fewest the Greyhounds have put up all season, but given the result they're probably not too concerned.

Tahoka came out on top against Sudan on Friday thanks in part to the team's impressive nine-run third inning. The Bulldogs were the clear victors by a 14-5 margin over the Hornets. Considering the Bulldogs have won nine matchups by more than six runs this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.

Brogan Stone was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He struck out seven batters over 4.2 innings while giving up four earned (and one unearned) runs off three hits. Stone was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs.

In other batting news, Jordan Hicks and Sam Kessler did most of the damage at the plate: Hicks got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs, one stolen base, and two RBI, while Kessler got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs, two RBI, and one double. Tahoka is undefeated when Hicks posts two or more runs, but 7-9 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Cayden Gutierrez, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one stolen base and one run.

Tahoka always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .571. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Sudan only posted an OBP of .429.

Gruver's win was their seventh straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 17-0. The road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.9 runs on average over those games. As for Tahoka, their win bumped their record up to 12-9.