Baseball Preview: Dixon Bulldogs vs. Croatan Cougars
Dixon is 2-8 against Croatan since April of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Dixon Bulldogs will head out on the road to face off against the Croatan Cougars at 7:00 p.m.
Dixon is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 14 runs on Saturday, they were much more limited against Swansboro on Tuesday. They wound up on the wrong side of a rough 11-1 walloping at the hands of the Pirates.
Dixon saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Chase Slomski, who went 1-for-2 with a stolen base.
Meanwhile, Croatan came tearing into Tuesday's match with eight straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 7.3 runs) and they left with even more momentum. They were the clear victor by a 13-1 margin over the Wildcats. Croatan might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won eight contests by six runs or more this season.
Liam McFadden made a big impact no matter where he played. He pitched two innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. McFadden has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two hits in five consecutive pitching appearances. McFadden was also stellar in the batter's box, going 3-for-3 with four RBI, two runs, and two doubles.
In other batting news, Weston Thomas and Nathan Michalowicz did most of the damage at the plate: Thomas scored three runs and stole a base while going 3-for-5, while Michalowicz scored three runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. Thomas has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last five times he's played. Broderyk Miller was another key contributor, going 2-for-4 with four RBI, a run, and a double.
Dixon's loss dropped their record down to 8-12. As for Croatan, their win was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 13-3.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Thursday as neither team is afraid to steal. Dixon has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.7 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Croatan struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.1. The only question left is which team can snag more. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
