Baseball Preview: Croatan Cougars vs. Dixon Bulldogs
Croatan is 8-2 against Dixon since April of 2018, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Croatan Cougars will head out on the road to square off against the Dixon Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. Croatan will be hoping to continue their five-game streak of scoring more runs each game than the last.
In what's become a running theme this season, Croatan gave their fans yet another huge victory on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Richlands with a sharp 14-4 win.
Broderyk Miller and Liam McFadden made a big impact while hitting and pitching. Throwing, Miller struck out six batters over 2.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and not a single walk). Meanwhile, McFadden pitched 1.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (he also didn't allow any walks). Miller has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in seven consecutive pitching appearances. At the plate, Miller scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-2, while McFadden scored two runs and stole a base while getting on base in two of his four plate appearances.
In other batting news, Croatan let Nathan Michalowicz and Weston Thomas loose on the outfield. Michalowicz scored four runs and stole three bases while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances, while Thomas scored three runs and stole five bases while going 1-for-3. The team also got some help courtesy of Ethan Demercurio, who got on base in all three of his plate appearances with a stolen base, a double, and an RBI.
Meanwhile, Dixon came up short against Swansboro on Tuesday and fell 6-2.
Dixon saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Luke Vincent, who went 1-for-2 with a stolen base and an RBI.
Croatan pushed their record up to 9-3 with that victory, which was their third straight at home. They've been dominating during the matches in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 10.3 runs. As for Dixon, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-9.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Friday as neither team is afraid to steal. Croatan has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.2 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Dixon struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.5. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Everything went Croatan's way against Dixon when the teams last played back in May of 2023 as Croatan made off with a 10-0 win. Will Croatan repeat their success, or does Dixon have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
