vs
| 05/06/24 - Home | 5-0 W |
| 04/25/24 - Away | 23-0 W |
| 05/02/23 - Away | 4-1 W |
| 04/18/23 - Home | 1-0 W |
| 04/27/22 - Home | 5-0 W |
| + 5 more games |
Hazleton Area has gone 9-1 against Wyoming Valley West recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Wednesday. The Cougars will welcome the Spartans at 4:30 p.m. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Hazleton Area's pitching crew heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Monday. They put the hurt on Berwick with a sharp 12-0 win. The Cougars haven't had any issues with the Bulldogs recently, as the game was their ninth consecutive victory against them.
Fred Corrado looked comfortable as he struck out six batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs or hits.
On the hitting side, Shea Higgins was excellent, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-1. Another player making a difference was Ryan Welch, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, after only one run in their last contest, Wyoming Valley West made sure to put some runs up on the board against Greater Nanticoke Area on Monday. The Spartans blew past the Trojans 11-0. The Spartans might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four games by six runs or more this season.
Gunner Giza tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only one hit while striking out ten over 4.2 innings pitched. He has been consistent : he hasn't given up more than one earned run in five consecutive appearances.
At the plate, D'Vonte Rivers was a standout: he scored three runs and stole a base while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances. Wyoming Valley West is undefeated when Rivers posts two or more runs, but 1-3 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Tyler Ruddy, who scored a run while going 2-for-2.
Wyoming Valley West was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .389. The last time their batting average was this high was back in April of 2024.
Hazleton Area's win was their eighth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 3-2. Those road victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 14.5 runs over those games. As for Wyoming Valley West, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 6-3 record this season.
Hazleton Area was able to grind out a solid win over Wyoming Valley West in their previous meeting back in May of 2024, winning 5-0. Do the Cougars have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Spartans turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
