Baseball Preview: Palm Bay Pirates vs. Cocoa Beach Minutemen
Palm Bay has enjoyed a four-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will face off against the Cocoa Beach Minutemen at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Palm Bay is strutting in with some hitting muscle, as they've averaged 6.3 runs per game this season.
Last Thursday, Palm Bay suffered a rough 22-1 loss at the hands of Rockledge.
Palm Bay saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Zander Tarnowski, who went 1-for-2 with a stolen base and a double. Tarnowski is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now stolen at least one in the last three games he's played.
Meanwhile, Cocoa Beach scored the most runs they've had all season to find success on Friday. Their pitchers stepped up to hand Merritt Island Christian a 14-0 shutout. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for Cocoa Beach considering their two-run performance the game before.
Kristian Wolfe was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out eight batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits (and only one walk). Wolfe was also solid in the batter's box, scoring three runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-4.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on AJ Barranco, who scored three runs while going 3-for-3. Rory O'Connor was another key contributor, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3.
Palm Bay has not been sharp recently as the team has lost nine of their last ten matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-10-1 record this season. As for Cocoa Beach, their record now sits at 6-8.
Palm Bay suffered a grim 15-4 defeat to Cocoa Beach when the teams last played back in April of 2022. Thankfully for Palm Bay, Preston Houvouras (who kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out seven over four innings pitched) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
