Baseball Preview: Hazleton Area Cougars vs. Crestwood Comets
Hazleton Area is 9-1 against Crestwood since May of 2018, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Hazleton Area Cougars will head out on the road to take on the Crestwood Comets at 4:15 p.m. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Hazleton Area stacked a sixth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Thursday. Their pitchers stepped up to hand Wyoming Valley West a 23-0 shutout. While fans of Hazleton Area might be used to big wins, the 23-run margin marked the team's biggest one yet.
Meanwhile, Crestwood can finally bid farewell to their four-game losing streak thanks to their game on Wednesday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Berwick and snuck past 2-0.
Crestwood's victory was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Chaz Wright, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-3. Wright is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now stolen at least one in the last four games he's played.
Hazleton Area is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-4 record this season. As for Crestwood, their win was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 4-6.
Hazleton Area came out on top in a nail-biter against Crestwood in their previous meeting last Tuesday, sneaking past 1-0. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Crestwood's Chris Litchkofski, who didn't allow a single earned run over six innings pitched. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Hazleton Area still be able to contain Litchkofski? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
