Baseball Game Preview: Falls Lake Firebirds vs. Northern Durham Knights

The Falls Lake Firebirds are taking a road trip to challenge the Northern Durham Knights at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Falls Lake will aim to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each contest than the last.

On Wednesday, everything went Falls Lake's way against Neuse Charter as Falls Lake made off with a 17-1 victory.

Isaac Smoak made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Smoak was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring three runs and stealing Two bases. while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Jacob Watson, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with four RBI, two doubles, and one stolen base. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in March of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Kace Obriant, who scored three runs and stole a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

Falls Lake was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .545. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in four consecutive games.

Meanwhile, Tuesday just wasn't the day for Northern Durham's offense. They came up short against Wake Forest on Tuesday, falling 12-0. The Knights just can't catch a break and have now endured three losses in a row.

Northern Durham's defeat dropped their record down to 1-4. As for Falls Lake, the win got them back to even at 3-3.

Northern Durham's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Falls Lake hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .357. It's a different story for Northern Durham, though, as they've only averaged .225. Will they be able to contain Falls Lake's hitters? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.