Baseball Preview: Clay Blue Devils vs. Beachside Barracudas
The Clay Blue Devils will face off against the Beachside Barracudas at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Clay is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They walked away with an 11-7 win over Ponte Vedra. The high-scoring effort was just what Clay needed considering they were shutout in their previous matchup.
Easton McMahan was incredible, going 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Lukas Moore, who scored two runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Beachside came tearing into Tuesday's game with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 2.7 runs) and they left with even more momentum. They had just enough and edged the Tigers out 2-0.
Not much got past Jake Meadows, who gave up just four hits and racked up nine Ks to keep Columbia off the board.
At the plate, Derek Ochoa was excellent, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-3. Brian D'Errico was another key contributor, going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and an RBI.
Clay's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 17-9. As for Beachside, they are on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a nice bump to their 16-13 record this season.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Clay has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9.7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Beachside struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.7. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Clay was able to grind out a solid win over Beachside in their previous matchup back in April, winning 4-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for Clay since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
