Baseball Game Preview: Summit Christian Academy Falcons vs. James Monroe Mavericks

The Summit Christian Academy Falcons will challenge the James Monroe Mavericks at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Summit Christian Academy took a loss when they played away from home two weeks ago, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed last Tuesday. Their pitchers stepped up to hand Jefferson Christian Academy a 10-0 shutout. The high-scoring effort was just what the Falcons needed considering they were shut out in their previous match.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask James Monroe). Everything went their way against Bluefield on Wednesday as they made off with a 22-4 win. The Mavericks have beaten the Beavers the last seven times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Beavers has come to flipping the script.

Peyton Gardinier was a major factor no matter where he played. He tossed three innings while giving up just one earned run but no hits. James Monroe is 3-1 when Gardinier allows two or fewer earned runs, but 2-3 otherwise. Gardinier was also big at the plate, getting on base in three of his five plate appearances with three RBI, two runs, and one triple. That triple marked the first that he hit this season.

In other batting news, James Monroe let Carson Koen and Jordan Baker run wild. Koen went 1-for-2 with two runs, one triple, and two RBI, while Baker went 1-for-2 with four RBI and two runs. Those four RBI gave Baker a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Baylee Ridgeway, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-3.

James Monroe always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .537. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.

James Monroe now has a winning record of 5-4. As for Summit Christian Academy, the victory got them back to even at 1-1.