Baseball Preview: Fairland Dragons vs. South Point Pointers
The Fairland Dragons will head out on the road to challenge the South Point Pointers at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Fairland will be looking to extend their current three-game winning streak.
Last Monday, Fairland was able to grind out a solid victory over Rock Hill, taking the game 7-2. That's two games straight that Fairland has won by exactly five runs.
Ethan Wall and Brycen Hunt were a major factor no matter where they played. On the mound, Wall struck out six batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs or hits (and only one walk). Meanwhile, Hunt tossed an inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. Wall has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in seven consecutive pitching appearances. At the plate, Wall scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3, while Hunt scored two runs and stole a base while going 3-for-3.
In other batting news, Keegan Smith was excellent, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-2. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last three times he's played.
South Point lost 9-3 to Portsmouth on Monday. South Point has struggled against Portsmouth recently, as their matchup on Monday was their eighth consecutive lost matchup.
South Point also got a good showing from Ethan Laslo, who tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit.
On the hitting side, South Point saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Joey Lobaldo, who scored a run while going 2-for-3.
Fairland has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games, which provided a massive bump to their 8-10 record this season. As for South Point, their defeat dropped their record down to 12-8.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Wednesday as neither team is afraid to steal. Fairland has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.1 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like South Point struggles in that department as they've been averaging 4.1. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Fairland came out on top in a nail-biter against South Point in their previous matchup back in April, sneaking past 3-1. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was South Point's Brayden Hanshaw, who struck out seven batters over six innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off eight hits. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Fairland still be able to contain Hanshaw? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
