Preview: Lemon Bay Manta Rays vs. Out-of-Door Academy Thunder
Lemon Bay is 0-3 against Out-of-Door Academy since March of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Lemon Bay Manta Rays will head out on the road to face off against the Out-of-Door Academy Thunder at 5:00 p.m. Neither Lemon Bay nor Out-of-Door Academy posted many runs in their last games, so it might be the pitching crews that decide this one.
Lemon Bay was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. They took a 6-2 hit to the loss column at the hands of Parrish Community.
Lemon Bay got a good showing from Gabe Todaro, who pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits (he also only allowed one walk). Todaro has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Lemon Bay saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jacob Connor, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2. Another player making a difference was Joel Vazquez, who went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases.
Meanwhile, Out-of-Door Academy came into Wednesday's contest having lost four straight, but that streak is now in the rearview. Their pitchers stepped up to hand IMG Academy Royal a 2-0 shutout on Wednesday. The victory was just what Out-of-Door Academy needed coming off of a 10-1 loss in their prior game.
Lemon Bay's defeat dropped their record down to 3-6. As for Out-of-Door Academy, the win got them back to even at 6-6.
Lemon Bay suffered a grim 10-0 defeat to Out-of-Door Academy when the teams last played back in April of 2023. Can Lemon Bay avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
