Baseball Game Preview: Mineral Ridge Rams vs. McKinley Red Dragons

The Mineral Ridge Rams will challenge the McKinley Red Dragons at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Mineral Ridge's pitching crew has only allowed 3.9 runs per game this season, so McKinley's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Mineral Ridge is probably headed into the game with a chip on their shoulder considering Jackson-Milton just ended the team's eight-game winning streak on Tuesday. They came up short against the Bluejays, falling 10-0. The pitching woes were uncharacteristic for the Rams, who until this contest were averaging 3.87 runs allowed.

McKinley came out on top against Liberty on Friday thanks in part to the team's impressive six-run fifth inning. The Red Dragons walked away with a 7-2 victory over the Leopards. The Red Dragons haven't had any issues with the Leopards recently, as the game was their third consecutive win against them.

McKinley got a great performance from Joseph Lehman as he pitched five innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off three hits. Lehman has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive appearances.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on AJ Yost, who went 2-for-3 with one run, one double, and one RBI. Another player making a difference was Brixton Gilmour, who went 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI.

Mineral Ridge's loss was their first in the conference, dropping their conference record down to 9-1 and their overall record down to 12-3. As for McKinley, their victory bumped their record up to 6-13.