Baseball Game Preview: McMinn Central Chargers vs. Ooltewah Owls

The McMinn Central Chargers will face off against the Ooltewah Owls at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with McMinn Central sitting on four straight wins and Ooltewah on three.

On Friday, McMinn Central beat Red Bank 5-1.

McMinn Central got a great performance from Evan James as he tossed five innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits. James also tossed two walks, marking his first of the season.

At the plate, Hunter Rayburn and Ayden Plemons did most of the damage at the plate: Rayburn went 2-for-4 with two runs, one triple, and one double, while Plemons scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. That triple was Rayburn's first of the season.

Meanwhile, Ooltewah got themselves on the board against Howard Tech on Wednesday, but Howard Tech never followed suit. They put the hurt on the Hustlin' Tigers with a sharp 18-0 victory. Considering the Owls have won nine games by more than six runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.

McMinn Central pushed their record up to 15-8 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.0 run on average over those games. As for Ooltewah, their win bumped their record up to 14-8-1.

McMinn Central came up short against Ooltewah in their previous matchup back in March of 2015, falling 14-11. Can the Chargers avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.