Baseball Game Preview: Republic Tigers vs. Smith-Cotton Tigers

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Previous Games

05/03/24 - Home	9-7 W
04/05/24 - Away	2-1 W
05/05/23 - Home	4-3 W
05/07/22 - Home	3-2 W
05/08/21 - Neutral	6-9 L
+ 3 more games

Republic and Smith-Cotton are an even 4-4 against one another since May of 2016, but likely not for long. Republic will be playing at home against Smith-Cotton at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Smith-Cotton took a loss in their last game and will be looking to turn the tables on Republic, who comes in off a win.

On Wednesday, Republic sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 3-2 victory over Joplin. The Tigers haven't had any issues with the Eagles recently, as the game was their seventh consecutive win against them.

Battle hit Smith-Cotton with a four-run fourth inning on Thursday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Tigers fell just short of the Spartans by a score of 6-5. Tigers fans who chose to attend the game sure picked the wrong one: it was the first time the team's lost against the Spartans since on Thursday.

Smith-Cotton got a good showing from Adam Rowe, who kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits over four innings pitched. Furthermore, Rowe didn't allow a single hit, the first time he has blanked an opponent since back in April of 2024.

At the plate, Smith-Cotton saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Caden Homan, who went 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI.

The victory got Republic back to even at 13-13. As for Smith-Cotton, they now have a losing record of 16-17.

Republic came out on top in a nail-biter against Smith-Cotton when the teams last played back in May of 2024, sneaking past 9-7. Will Republic repeat their success, or does Smith-Cotton has a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.