Baseball Preview: Maplewood Rockets vs. Pymatuning Valley Lakers
The Maplewood Rockets will head out on the road to face off against the Pymatuning Valley Lakers at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Maplewood sitting on four straight wins and Pymatuning Valley on three.
Maplewood is headed into the match fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They were the clear victor by a 21-10 margin over Windham on Friday. Maplewood might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won four contests by eight runs or more this season.
Zach Suba was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He struck out eight batters over four innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off three hits (and not a single walk). Suba was also big at the plate, scoring two runs and stealing two bases.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Kenyan Clover, who went 5-for-6 with six stolen bases, four runs, and five RBI. Coleton Logan was another key contributor, going 4-for-6 with five RBI, three doubles, and a run.
Meanwhile, Pymatuning Valley can now show off six landslide victories after their most recent matchup on Friday. Everything went their way against Lordstown as Pymatuning Valley made off with a 17-5 victory.
Drake Haines and Ryan Croston did most of the damage at the plate: Haines went 2-for-2 with a home run, three runs, and four RBI, while Croston went 2-for-3 with three runs, four RBI, and a stolen base. Another player making a difference was Ty Vickery, who scored three runs and stole a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
Maplewood's win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 8-2. As for Pymatuning Valley, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-5-1 record this season.
Tuesday's match will be a test for both team's pitchers. Maplewood hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .353. However, it's not like Pymatuning Valley struggles in that department as they've averaged .348. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Maplewood came out on top in a nail-biter against Pymatuning Valley when the teams last played on April 10th, sneaking past 6-5. The rematch might be a little tougher for Maplewood 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
