Preview: Roxana Shells vs. Southwestern Piasa Birds
Roxana is 2-8 against Southwestern since April of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Roxana Shells will be playing at home against the Southwestern Piasa Birds at 4:30 p.m. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (Roxana: 3.7, Southwestern: 1.8) so any runs scored will be well earned.
After some red-hot attacks at the plate in their last three matchups, Roxana finally came back down to earth on Thursday. They fell 6-2 to Red Bud.
Zeb Katzmarek was cooking despite his team's loss, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with a stolen base. Kyle Campbell was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 1-for-4.
Meanwhile, Southwestern unfortunately witnessed the end of their three-game winning streak on Thursday. They fell just short of Alton by a score of 3-1. Having soared to a lofty 11 runs in the game before, Southwestern couldn't push the score so high this time.
Southwestern saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Logan Crane, who went 1-for-2 with a triple.
Roxana's defeat dropped their record down to 4-3. As for Southwestern, their loss was their first of the season and makes their record 3-1.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. Roxana has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Southwestern struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.8 per game. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Roxana couldn't quite finish off Southwestern in their previous matchup back in May of 2023 and fell 3-1. Will Roxana have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
