Baseball Game Preview: Bloomfield Bobcats vs. Shiprock Chieftains

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Previous Games

04/11/24 - Home	17-0 W
04/04/24 - Away	15-4 W
04/13/23 - Away	13-3 W
04/06/23 - Home	11-0 W
04/19/22 - Away	7-11 L
+ 5 more games

Bloomfield has gone 8-2 against Shiprock recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Bobcats will be playing at home against the Chieftains at 4:00 p.m. Bloomfield is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.9 runs per game this season.

Bloomfield is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New Mexico's top teams: Valley, who was ranked 23rd at the time (Bloomfield was ranked 15th). The Bobcats fell just short of the Vikings by a score of 4-3 on Saturday. That makes it the first time this season the Bobcats have let down their home crowd.

Cable Carruth and Blake Spencer stepped up to the plate in a big way. Carruth went 2-for-3 with one home run, while Spencer scored a run while going 3-for-4. That home run marked the first that Carruth launched this season. Trae Woods was another key player, going 1-for-3 with one triple and one run.

Meanwhile, Shiprock lost 13-4 to Kirtland Central on Tuesday. The Chieftains have struggled against the Broncos recently, as the game was their third consecutive lost meeting.

Shiprock saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Kaiyen Cleveland, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-4.

Shiprock's defeat dropped their record down to 7-7. As for Bloomfield, their loss dropped their record down to 11-4.

Thursday's matchup will be a test for both teams' pitchers. Bloomfield hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .373. However, it's not like Shiprock struggles in that department as they've averaged .340. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.

Everything went Bloomfield's way against Shiprock in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, as Bloomfield made off with a 17-0 victory. Will the Bobcats repeat their success, or do the Chieftains have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.