Baseball Preview: Hardee Wildcats vs. Avon Park Red Devils
The Hardee Wildcats will play host again on Thursday to welcome the Avon Park Red Devils, where first pitch is scheduled at 7:00 p.m. The pair are strolling into their games after big wins in their previous games.
On Tuesday, Hardee never let their opponents score. They blew past Sarasota Christian 10-0.
Ryan Rivas made a splash while hitting and pitching. He kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out eight over five innings pitched. Rivas was also big at the plate, going 1-for-3 with two RBI and a double.
In other batting news, Kellon Lindsey was incredible, going 2-for-3 with a home run, two stolen bases, and four RBI. Braden Tyson was another key contributor, going 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI.
Avon Park only won by two when they last took the field, which might have inspired the six-point they dealt DeSoto County on Monday. Avon Park put the hurt on DeSoto County with a sharp 8-2 win.
Jaret King tossed a big game, striking out six batters over five innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off two hits. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in four consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Mekhi Taylor, who scored three runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-4. Another player making a difference was KJ Massey, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-3.
Hardee is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 11-6 record this season. As for Avon Park, their victory bumped their record up to 11-7.
Hardee might still be hurting after the 9-3 loss they got from Avon Park in their previous matchup back in March. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Avon Park's Brad Benton, who struck out 11 batters over six innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off four hits. Now that Hardee 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
