Baseball Game Preview: Harrells Christian Academy Crusaders vs. Burlington Christian Academy Royals

The Harrells Christian Academy Crusaders will head out to challenge the Burlington Christian Academy Royals at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Harrells Christian Academy is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. They had just enough and edged out Rocky Mount Academy 4-2. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Crusaders.

Meanwhile, Burlington Christian Academy had already won 11 in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.1 runs) and they went ahead and made it 12 last Tuesday. They put the hurt on the Knights with a sharp 17-3 win. The Royals might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 12 games by six runs or more this season.

Will Grubb tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run over 5.1 innings pitched. He has been consistent: he hasn't given up more than one walk in eight consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Burlington Christian Academy got a massive performance out of Lofton Gonzalez, who got on base in four of his five plate appearances with two stolen bases, three runs, and one triple. Those two stolen bases gave Gonzalez a new career-high. Cohen Payne was another key player, getting on base in all five of his plate appearances with three RBI, two runs, and one triple.

Burlington Christian Academy's victory was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 20-1. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.8 runs on average over those games. As for Harrells Christian Academy, their victory bumped their record up to 8-12.