Baseball Game Preview: Hernando Leopards vs. Umatilla Bulldogs

For the second straight game, Hernando will face off against Umatilla. The Leopards will be playing in front of their home fans against the Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday.

Hernando heads in on the heels of a playoff game on Tuesday. They fell just short of Umatilla by a score of 3-1. Having soared to a lofty 11 runs in the game before, the Leopards couldn't push the score so high this time.

For Umatilla's part, Wyatt Strawbridge spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned run on five hits and racked up eight Ks. The Bulldogs are 11-5 when Strawbridge allows three or fewer earned runs, but 8-10 otherwise.

At the plate, Umatilla's win was truly a team effort as three different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Gavin Touchton, who got on base in all three of his plate appearances with one run and one double.

Umatilla hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Hernando struck out eight times.

Umatilla is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 19-15 record this season. They've had to fight for that success though, as they only beat their opponents by an average of 1.67 runs across that stretch. As for Hernando, they moved to 19-15 with that defeat, which also ended their three-game winning streak.

The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Hernando has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Umatilla struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 8.2 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.