Baseball Preview: Durham Trojans vs. Live Oak Lions
Durham is 8-0 against Live Oak since March of 2017, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Wednesday. The Durham Trojans will be playing in front of their home fans against the Live Oak Lions at 4:00 p.m. Durham is coming into the game hot, having won their last four games.
Durham stacked an 11th blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Tuesday. They were the clear victor by a 9-1 margin over Pierce.
Matthew Porter spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered one run (which was unearned) on five hits and racked up nine Ks. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Dylan Rabo was excellent, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-4. The team also got some help courtesy of Brady Doyle, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, it was a hard-fought contest, but Live Oak had to settle for a 9-7 defeat against Paradise on Tuesday. Even though they lost, Live Oak's still made a splash at the plate and bumped their average scoring up to 6.1 runs per game (they're now ranked -1th in scoring overall).
Live Oak saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Farron Gomez, who scored a run while going 1-for-3. Another player making a difference was Bradley Perigo, who scored a run while going 1-for-2.
Durham has been performing well recently as they've won 12 of their last 15 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 15-6 record this season. As for Live Oak, they have not been sharp recently as the team has lost 11 of their last 13 matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-13 record this season.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Wednesday as neither team is afraid to steal. Durham has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 2.7 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Live Oak struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.1. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Durham took their victory against Live Oak in their previous meeting back in March by a conclusive 12-6. Will Durham repeat their success, or does Live Oak have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
