Baseball Game Preview: Eastern Comets vs. Maconaquah Braves

The Eastern Comets are taking a road trip to take on the Maconaquah Braves at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Eastern will roll into the matchup after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up two runs on Wednesday, then bounced right back against Manchester on Thursday. The Comets walked away with a 16-13 victory over the Squires.

Meanwhile, Maconaquah had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 4.7 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They came out on top against the Giants by a score of 8-3. While the Braves didn't have the best season last year (they finished 9-15), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.

Caiden Richards spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned (and two unearned) runs on seven hits and racked up six Ks.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Devon Murry, who went 2-for-3 with three stolen bases, three runs, and two RBI. Those three stolen bases gave him a new career-high. Kobe Bowman also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.

Eastern has been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 11 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 13-4 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.6 runs over those games. As for Maconaquah, their victory bumped their record up to 7-3.

Eastern took their win against Maconaquah in their previous meeting back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 15-5 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Comets since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.