Baseball Preview: Lewis County Minutemen vs. Elkins Tigers
The Lewis County Minutemen will look to defend their home field on Tuesday against the Elkins Tigers at 6:00 p.m. Lewis County is coming into the game hot, having won their last seven games.
On Monday, Lewis County sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 4-3 win over Philip Barbour.
Trenton Hunt was a major factor no matter where he played. On the mound, he struck out nine batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off six hits (and not a single walk). Hunt has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive pitching appearances. Hunt was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a double.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Luke Clem, who went 1-for-2 with a home run and two runs.
Meanwhile, it was a hard-fought contest, but Elkins had to settle for a 6-5 loss against Buckhannon-Upshur on Monday. Elkins has struggled against Buckhannon-Upshur recently, as their matchup on Monday was their fifth consecutive lost matchup.
Jacob Shiflette made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and went 1-for-2 with two runs, a triple, and an RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Brock Holland, who scored a run while going 1-for-4.
Lewis County's victory was their seventh straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 11-2. Those victories were due in large part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.3 runs per game. As for Elkins, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-4.
Elkins' pitching crew has a tough task ahead of them: Lewis County hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .327. It's a different story for Elkins, though, as they've only averaged .241. Will they be able to contain Lewis County's hitters?
Lewis County took their win against Elkins in their previous meeting back in April of 2023 by a conclusive 8-0. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Elkins' Cameron Biller, who didn't allow a single earned run and only two hits while striking out six over 5.1 innings pitched. Now that he won't be playing on Tuesday, will it be that much easier for Lewis County to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
