Baseball Game Preview: Lumberton Raiders vs. China Spring Cougars

The Lumberton Raiders will take on the China Spring Cougars at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Lumberton 3.3, China Spring 2.7) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Lumberton is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They won by a run and slipped past Lampasas 3-2.

Meanwhile, China Spring waltzed into their match on Saturday with 22 straight wins... but they left with 23. They came out on top against the Panthers by a score of 11-6. China Spring's win was all the more impressive since the Panthers were averaging only 3.17 runs allowed on the season.

Dean Hannah and Garrett Maddox did most of the damage at the plate: Hannah got on base in all four of his plate appearances with one run, one double, and one RBI, while Maddox went 1-for-3 with two stolen bases, three runs, and one RBI. That's the most stolen bases Maddox has posted since back in March of 2024. Another player making a difference was Greyson Brooks, who went 1-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.

They weren't the only ones making solid contact: China Spring kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 11 hits. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Bullard only managed five hits.

China Spring pushed their record up to 33-4 with the victory, which was their 15th straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Lumberton, they have been performing well recently as they've won 11 of their last 13 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 26-9-1 record this season.