Baseball Game Preview: Skyline Hawks vs. Kettle Run Cougars

The Skyline Hawks will face off against the Kettle Run Cougars at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Skyline comes in on five and Kettle Run on seven.

The scorekeeper got an easy start on Monday as neither Skyline nor Meridian made it on the board until the fifth inning. The Hawks skirted past the Mustangs 4-3. Four seems to be a good number for the Hawks as the team scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Izaiah Matthews and Cameron Kerns were major factors no matter where they played. On the mound, Matthews didn't allow a single earned run over 4.2 innings pitched. Meanwhile, Kerns struck out six batters over 4.1 innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off three hits. Matthews has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances. At the plate, Matthews went 1-for-4 with one home run and two runs, while Kerns went 2-for-4 with three stolen bases and one run.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Mark Jeffries, who went 2-for-5 with two stolen bases and one run. That's the most stolen bases he has posted since back in April.

Fans were treated to a battle of the Cougars on Tuesday. Kettle Run's pitchers stepped up to hand Manassas Park an 11-0 shutout. Kettle Run might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 12 contests by six runs or more this season.

Kettle Run pushed their record up to 16-3 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Skyline, their record now sits at 13-7.

Skyline couldn't quite finish off Kettle Run in their previous meeting back in April and fell 2-0. Can the Hawks avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.