Baseball Preview: Apopka Blue Darters vs. East Ridge Knights
Apopka is 4-0 against East Ridge since April of 2017, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Wednesday. The Apopka Blue Darters will be playing in front of their home fans against the East Ridge Knights at 7:00 p.m. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Apopka's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They walked away with a 5-0 victory over West Orange.
Not much got past Braylon Reynante, who gave up just one hit to keep West Orange off the board. Reynante has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Jackson Adams, who scored two runs while going 1-for-3. Another player making a difference was Cody McKinley, who scored a run while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, East Ridge was able to grind out a solid win over Ocoee on Monday, taking the game 3-0. The victory made it back-to-back wins for East Ridge.
The team relied heavily on Cale Keene, who went 1-for-2 with two RBI and a double.
Apopka's victory bumped their record up to 12-10. As for East Ridge, their win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-14.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Wednesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Apopka has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.5 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like East Ridge struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.7. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Everything went Apopka's way against East Ridge when the teams last played back in March of 2023 as Apopka made off with an 8-1 victory. Will Apopka repeat their success, or does East Ridge have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
