Baseball Game Preview: Richards Plays at Home

By Team Reports May 18, 2024, 10:27am

Baseball Preview: Richards Bulldogs vs. Tinley Park Titans

Richards and Tinley Park are an even 4-4 against one another since April of 2015, but likely not for long. The Richards Bulldogs will look to defend their home field on Monday against the Tinley Park Titans at 4:30 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Tinley Park is hoping to do on Monday what Blue Island Eisenhower couldn't on Wednesday: put an end to Richards' winning streak, which now stands at four games. Richards never let Blue Island Eisenhower onto the board and left with an 11-0 win.

Richards got a great performance from Jaylen Leon as he didn't allow a single earned run and only two hits over five innings pitched. Leon has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two hits in six consecutive pitching appearances.

At the plate, John Sanchez was excellent, scoring a run while going 2-for-3. Sean Cody was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 1-for-4.

Meanwhile, Tinley Park came into Friday's game having lost three straight, but that streak is now in the rearview. Everything went their way against Shepard on Friday as Tinley Park made off with a 7-0 victory.

Ryan Exline looked comfortable as he pitched an inning while giving up no earned runs off one hit.

On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Nolan Maciejewski, who scored two runs and stole three bases while going 3-for-3. The team also got some help courtesy of Sean McCullough, who scored two runs while going 1-for-3.

Richards is on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 12 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 19-6-1 record this season. As for Tinley Park, their win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 19-12.

The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Monday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Richards has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.6 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Tinley Park struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.6. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.

Everything went Richards' way against Tinley Park in their previous matchup back in May of 2023 as Richards made off with an 11-4 victory. Will Richards repeat their success, or does Tinley Park have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.

Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps