Baseball Game Preview: Newton-Conover Red Devils vs. Bunker Hill Bears

The Newton-Conover Red Devils will face off against the Bunker Hill Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Newton-Conover has six straight victories, Bunker Hill has three straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

Newton-Conover will bounce into Friday's game after beating Bandys, who they had gone 0-9 against in their nine prior meetings. The Red Devils came out on top against the Trojans by a score of 6-1 on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Bunker Hill didn't have quite enough to beat Maiden on Tuesday and fell 2-1. That's two games in a row now that the Bears have lost by just one run.

Ross Fickling spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on three hits and racked up eight Ks. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in six consecutive appearances.

At the plate, Bunker Hill saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Braydon Marlowe, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with one double.

Newton-Conover's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 9-5. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.0 run on average over those games. As for Bunker Hill, they now have a losing record of 8-9.

Newton-Conover beat Bunker Hill 7-2 when the teams last played back in March. Do the Red Devils have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Bears turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.