The Fruitland Grizzlies will square off against the Kimberly Bulldogs at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the match red-hot, with Fruitland sitting on 18 straight victories and Kimberly on three.
Fruitland is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They blew past McCall-Donnelly 24-1 on Wednesday. Considering the Grizzlies have won 15 games by more than seven runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.
Fruitland got a massive performance out of Quinn Hood, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with one home run, five RBI, and two runs. That's the most RBI Hood has posted since back in March. Morgun Pettet also deserves some recognition as he brought in his first RBI of the season.
Fruitland always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .675. That was just more of the same: they've now posted an OBP of .500 or higher in eight consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Kimberly got themselves on the board against Gooding on Wednesday, but Gooding never followed suit. They put the hurt on the Senators with a sharp 15-0 win. The Bulldogs are also no stranger to big wins: their blowout was the eighth matchup they've won by 6+ runs this season.
Isaac Sapegin tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits over five innings pitched.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on MaCraye Bruning, who went 3-for-4 with three RBI, two runs, and one triple. He has become a key player for Kimberly: the team is 7-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 3-4 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Jeremiah Bybee, who went 1-for-3 with one home run, three RBI, and two runs.
Fruitland pushed their record up to 18-0 with the victory, which was their 18th straight at home dating back to last season. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they've averaged 12.7 runs this season. As for Kimberly, their record now sits at 10-5.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Friday as neither team is afraid to steal. Fruitland has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 6.1 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Kimberly struggles in that department as they've been averaging 2.9 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Everything went Fruitland's way against Kimberly in their previous meeting on Friday, as Fruitland made off with a 12-4 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Grizzlies since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
