The Warner Eagles will face off against the Stroud Tigers at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
If Warner beats Stroud with eight runs on Friday, it's going to be the squad's new lucky number: they've won their past two matchups with that exact score. Warner sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with an 8-6 win over Central on Thursday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Eagles.
The team relied heavily on Jon Brown, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 3-for-3. Those hits marked the first that he got this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Memphis Swimmer, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-2.
Warner always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .515. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Meanwhile, Stroud had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 9.3 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Thursday. They put the hurt on the Black Bears with a sharp 17-5 victory. The Tigers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four contests by seven runs or more this season.
Cal Shields made a splash while hitting and pitching. He struck out six batters over three innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs but no hits. He has become a key player for Stroud: the team is undefeated when he allows at most one earned run, but 1-2 otherwise. Shields was even better at the plate, scoring three runs and stealing Three bases. while going 3-for-4. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 1.2 stolen bases per game.
In other batting news, Jessen Leathers was a standout: he scored four runs and stole Two bases. while getting on base in all five of his plate appearances. That's the most stolen bases he has posted since back in March of 2024. Stryker Bray was another key player, going 3-for-4 with four RBI and two runs.
Warner now has a winning record of 3-2-1. As for Stroud, their win bumped their record up to 4-2.
Stroud's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Warner hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .343. It's a different story for Stroud, though, as they've only averaged .257. Will they be able to contain Warner's hitters?
Warner took their victory against Stroud when the teams last played back in April of 2023 by a conclusive 18-2. Will Warner repeat their success, or does Stroud have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
