Baseball Preview: West Rowan Falcons vs. Northwest Cabarrus Trojans
West Rowan is 8-2 against Northwest Cabarrus since April of 2016, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Tuesday. The West Rowan Falcons will head out on the road to square off against the Northwest Cabarrus Trojans at 7:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
West Rowan came tearing into Friday's matchup with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 4.7 runs) and they left with even more momentum. They never let the Spiders onto the board and left with a 9-0 victory.
Drew Burton made a splash while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, keeping things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out nine over five innings pitched. Burton has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances. Burton was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
In other batting news, Cole Blevins was excellent, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-3. He is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now stolen at least one in the last four games he's played. Andrew Helmbold was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, Northwest Cabarrus made easy work of Robinson on Friday and carried off a 7-1 win.
Landon Finley and Alex Walker did most of the damage at the plate: Finley scored two runs and stole a base while going 3-for-4, while Walker went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Ben Able, who scored a run while going 2-for-2.
West Rowan pushed their record up to 14-4 with that victory, which was their third straight at home. Those good results were due in large part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.3 runs per game. As for Northwest Cabarrus, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a massive bump to their 8-11 record this season.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Tuesday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. West Rowan has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.1 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Northwest Cabarrus struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.5. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
West Rowan skirted past Northwest Cabarrus 3-2 in their previous meeting back in March. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Northwest Cabarrus' Dalton Hazlett, who struck out 11 batters over six innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off five hits (and not a single walk). Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will West Rowan still be able to contain Hazlett? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
