Baseball Game Preview: Lake Minneola Hawks vs. East Ridge Knights

The Lake Minneola Hawks will head out to square off against the East Ridge Knights at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Lake Minneola's pitching crew has only allowed 4.1 runs per game this season, so East Ridge's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

On Thursday, Lake Minneola earned a 4-1 victory over Eustis.

Jacob Cali tossed a big game, striking out seven batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits (and only one walk). What's more, he gave up only one walk, the fewest he's had since back in February.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Chase Dougherty, who scored a run and stole a base while going 3-for-4.

Meanwhile, East Ridge was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their fourth straight defeat. They came up short against South Lake, falling 13-2. That's two games in a row now that the Knights have lost by exactly 11 runs.

East Ridge saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Matthew Dewoody, who went 1-for-3 with one triple and one run. That triple was Dewoody's first of the season.

Lake Minneola is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last ten games. That's provided a nice bump to their 9-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 6.9 runs over those games. East Ridge's loss dropped their record down to 6-9.

East Ridge's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Friday. Lake Minneola has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9.1 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for East Ridge, though, as they've been averaging only 3.7 strikeouts. Will Lake Minneola keep running through batters, or will East Ridge buck the trend?

Lake Minneola beat East Ridge 7-2 when the teams last played last Thursday. Does Lake Minneola have another victory up their sleeve, or will East Ridge turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.