Baseball Preview: American Heritage Stallions vs. Gulf Coast Sharks
The American Heritage Stallions will head out on the road to square off against the Gulf Coast Sharks at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. American Heritage will be strutting in after a win while Gulf Coast will be coming in after a defeat.
Last Tuesday, American Heritage made easy work of Palm Beach Gardens and carried off an 11-1 victory. The win made it back-to-back victories for American Heritage.
American Heritage got a great performance from Joey Abbazia as he struck out ten batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off four hits (and only one walk). Abbazia has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in seven consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Jack Quinn was a standout: he went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI. Evan Fernandez was another key contributor, scoring three runs while going 2-for-4.
Meanwhile, Tuesday just wasn't the day for Gulf Coast's offense. They wound up with the same score they had in their last game (6-0), but sadly the team found themselves on the wrong side of the score this time. The game marked that first time this season in which they were not able to get on the board.
Gulf Coast saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Evan Hermanson, who went 1-for-2 with a stolen base.
American Heritage has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 9-9 record this season. As for Gulf Coast, their loss dropped their record down to 11-6.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. American Heritage has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Gulf Coast struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.2. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
American Heritage beat Gulf Coast 4-1 in their previous matchup back in April of 2015. Will American Heritage repeat their success, or does Gulf Coast have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
