Baseball Preview: Marco Island Academy Rays vs. The Village School of Naples Knights
The Marco Island Academy Rays will be playing at home against The Village School of Naples Knights at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Last Friday, Marco Island Academy made easy work of Naples Classical and carried off a 19-9 win. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Marco Island Academy.
Ryan Sweeney and Aidan Karl made a big impact while hitting and pitching. Throwing, Sweeney pitched 1.1 innings while giving up no earned runs or hits (he also didn't allow any walks). Meanwhile, Karl pitched two innings while giving up just two earned runs off one hit. At the plate, Sweeney scored three runs while going 3-for-4, while Karl went 1-for-2 with two RBI and a double.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Grayson Jones, who went 4-for-4 with six RBI, three doubles, and two runs. Chase Johnson was another key contributor, going 2-for-3 with four RBI, two doubles, and a stolen base.
Meanwhile, The Village School of Naples waltzed into their game on Monday with two straight wins... but they left with three. Everything went their way against the Academy as they made off with a 10-4 victory.
Like Marco Island Academy, The Village School of Naples also got a great game from a two-way player: Edmund Murphy. On the mound, he pitched five innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off two hits. Murphy was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.
In other batting news, Jacob Sweet was incredible, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-2. Another player making a difference was Drew Leeber, who scored two runs while going 2-for-4.
Marco Island Academy pushed their record up to 6-6 with that win, which was their fourth straight at home. Those good results were due in large part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 15.8 runs per game. As for The Village School of Naples, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 6-2 record this season.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Thursday as neither team is afraid to steal. Marco Island Academy has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 4.2 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like The Village School of Naples struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.6. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Marco Island Academy came up short against The Village School of Naples in their previous meeting two weeks ago, falling 6-2. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of The Village School of Naples' Will Pryor, who pitched seven innings while giving up just two earned runs off seven hits (he also didn't allow any walks). Now that Marco Island Academy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
