Baseball Preview: East Lake Eagles vs. Pinellas Park Patriots
East Lake is 10-0 against Pinellas Park since March of 2016, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Tuesday. The East Lake Eagles will head out on the road to square off against the Pinellas Park Patriots at 7:00 p.m. East Lake will be looking to extend their current seven-game winning streak.
East Lake can now show off nine landslide victories after their most recent matchup on Friday. Everything went their way against Palm Harbor University as East Lake made off with a 7-0 win.
Jackson Krukonis tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and only two hits over five innings pitched. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Andrew Sheffield was excellent, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-3. Another player making a difference was Jayden Harriel, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, Pinellas Park fell victim to Keswick Christian and their airtight pitching crew on Thursday. They took a 4-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Crusaders. Having soared to a lofty 12 runs in the game before, Pinellas Park's shutout was a dramatic turnaround.
Jack Inman was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he didn't allow a single earned run and only two hits over five innings pitched.
East Lake pushed their record up to 20-2 with that victory, which was their 17th straight at home dating back to last season. As for Pinellas Park, their defeat dropped their record down to 12-10.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Tuesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. East Lake has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9.2 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Pinellas Park struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.9. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Everything went East Lake's way against Pinellas Park in their previous matchup back in March of 2023 as East Lake made off with a 9-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for East Lake since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
