East Bay hasn't had much luck against Riverview recently, but that could start to change on Tuesday. The East Bay Indians will challenge the Riverview Sharks at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (East Bay has four straight victories, Riverview has four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
East Bay barely beat Plant City the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. Everything went East Bay's way against Plant City on Thursday as East Bay made off with an 8-1 win. The Indians might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four games by seven runs or more this season.
East Bay got a great performance from Mike Mowell as he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out nine over five innings pitched.
Rory Beauford
| 02/27/25 @ Hillsborough | 3 |
| 02/22/25 @ Blake | 3 |
| 03/06/25 vs Plant City | 2 |
| 02/25/25 vs Lennard | 1 |
| 02/13/25 vs King | 1 |
On the hitting side, Rory Beauford and Connor Gavigan did most of the damage at the plate: Beauford scored two runs while going 3-for-3, while Gavigan scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances. Beauford has become a key player for East Bay: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 2-5 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Jeffrey Diab, who scored a run while going 1-for-3.
East Bay was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .423. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .300 or higher in four consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Riverview fell victim to Strawberry Crest and their airtight pitching crew on Saturday. They lost 14-0 to the Chargers.
The victory got East Bay back to even at 5-5. As for Riverview, they now have a losing record of 5-6.
Riverview's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Tuesday. East Bay has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.7 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for Riverview, though, as they've been averaging only 4.1 strikeouts. Will East Bay keep running through batters, or will Riverview buck the trend?
East Bay took their win against Riverview when the teams last played back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 17-7. The rematch might be a little tougher for East Bay since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
