Baseball Game Preview: Morse Shipbuilders vs. Medomak Valley Panthers

The Morse Shipbuilders will square off against the Medomak Valley Panthers at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Morse will be looking to extend their current seven-game winning streak.

Morse is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They had just enough and edged out Poland 2-1.

The team relied heavily on Jackson Murray, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with one stolen base, one run, and one double.

Meanwhile, Medomak Valley won against Erskine Academy two weeks ago with five runs and they decided to stick to that run total again last Monday. The Panthers beat Oceanside by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 5-1. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Panthers.

Medomak Valley saw seven different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Josh Blake Jr, who went 2-for-4 with one RBI. That's the most hits Blake Jr has posted since back in April.

Medomak Valley pushed their record up to 12-4 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Morse, their record is now 12-5.

The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Morse has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Medomak Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 7.9 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.

Morse skirted past Medomak Valley 8-6 in their previous matchup back in May. Will the Shipbuilders repeat their success, or do the Panthers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.