Baseball Preview: Puyallup Vikings vs. Decatur Golden Gators
After four games on the road, Puyallup is heading back home. They will take on the Decatur Golden Gators at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Puyallup is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.4 runs per game this season.
Puyallup can now show off ten landslide victories after their most recent matchup on Thursday. They never let Bethel onto the board and left with a 17-0 win. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for Puyallup considering their one-run performance the contest before.
Michael LeJeune looked comfortable as he kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out six over four innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in three consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Puyallup got a massive performance out of Noah Benedict, who scored three runs while going 2-for-2. The team also got some help courtesy of Tristan Ringrose, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, Decatur came up short against Bellevue Christian on Thursday and fell 10-5. Decatur has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Eric Havili was cooking despite his team's loss, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-2. Ethan Flavel was another key contributor, scoring a run while going 2-for-3.
Puyallup is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 17-4 record this season. As for Decatur, they now have a losing record at 10-11.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Tuesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Puyallup has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.5 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Decatur struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.2. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Everything went Puyallup's way against Decatur when the teams last played back in May of 2015 as Puyallup made off with a 6-0 victory. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Decatur's Garrett Westberg, who struck out ten batters over 5.2 innings while giving up three earned (and three unearned) runs off six hits (and only one walk). Now that he won't be playing on Tuesday, will it be that much easier for Puyallup to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
