Baseball Preview: East Ridge Knights vs. Apopka Blue Darters
East Ridge is 0-4 against Apopka since April of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Wednesday. The East Ridge Knights will head out on the road to face off against the Apopka Blue Darters at 7:00 p.m. Both teams come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
East Ridge's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Monday. They walked away with a 3-0 victory over Ocoee. The win made it back-to-back victories for East Ridge.
Cale Keene was excellent, going 1-for-2 with two RBI and a double.
Meanwhile, Apopka was able to grind out a solid win over West Orange on Friday, taking the game 5-0.
Braylon Reynante spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just zero earned runs on one hit. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Jackson Adams, who scored two runs while going 1-for-3. Another player making a difference was Cody McKinley, who scored a run while going 1-for-2.
East Ridge's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-14. As for Apopka, their record now sits at 12-10.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Wednesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. East Ridge has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Apopka struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.5. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
East Ridge might still be hurting after the 8-1 defeat they got from Apopka in their previous meeting back in March of 2023. Thankfully for East Ridge, Donovan Murdock (who didn't allow a single earned run and only one hit while striking out seven over five innings pitched) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
