Baseball Game Preview: Portsmouth Patriots vs. Middletown Islanders

The Portsmouth Patriots will take on the Middletown Islanders at 4:45 p.m. on Friday.

Portsmouth is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: Smithfield, who was ranked tenth at the time (Portsmouth was ranked 24th). The Patriots lost 10-4 to the Sentinels on Wednesday.

Portsmouth saw seven different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Casey Cord, who went 2-for-3 with one run, one double, and one RBI. That double was Cord's first of the season. Emmett Greenwood was another, going 2-for-3 with one stolen base.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Middletown). They had just enough and edged out East Greenwich 8-7. The win was a breath of fresh air for the Islanders as it put an end to their three-game losing streak.

Noah Travers was excellent, going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and two runs. That's the most hits he has posted since back in April of 2024. Another player making a difference was Evan LeVasseur, who went 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI.

Portsmouth's defeat was their sixth straight at home, which dropped their record down to 4-8. As for Middletown, their victory bumped their record up to 4-5.

Portsmouth beat Middletown 11-8 when the teams last played back in May of 2023. Will the Patriots repeat their success, or do the Islanders have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.