Baseball Preview: Rampart Rams vs. Pine Creek Eagles
Rampart is 1-9 against Pine Creek since April of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Rampart Rams will be playing at home against the Pine Creek Eagles at 4:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard.
On Tuesday, Rampart had just enough and edged Liberty out 13-11.
Haydn Benoit made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he struck out eight batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Benoit has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in nine consecutive pitching appearances. Benoit was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring four runs and stealing two bases while getting on base in all five of his plate appearances.
In other batting news, Brayden Valdez was incredible, scoring two runs and stealing two bases while going 2-for-4.
Meanwhile, in what's become a running theme this season, Pine Creek gave their fans yet another huge win on Tuesday. They blew past Vista Ridge 14-2. The victory was nothing new for Pine Creek as they're now sitting on seven straight.
Ryan Prater looked comfortable as he tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits.
On the hitting side, Kyle McDonnell was a standout: he went 2-for-2 with two triples, three runs, and an RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Ethan Olson, who went 2-for-3 with a home run, two runs, and a stolen base.
Rampart's win ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 13-8. As for Pine Creek, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten contests, which provided a nice bump to their 16-5 record this season.
Both the two teams just can't seem to miss. Rampart has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 8.8 hits per game. However, it's not like Pine Creek struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 4.4. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Rampart might still be hurting after the 9-2 defeat they got from Pine Creek when the teams last played back in April. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Prater, who struck out 14 batters over six innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits (and only one walk). Now that Rampart knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
