Baseball Game Preview: Kenston Forest Kavaliers vs. Cumberland Dukes

The Kenston Forest Kavaliers will square off against the Cumberland Dukes at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Kenston Forest made up a huge gap compared to their last game against Amelia Academy, but they still couldn't quite topple them. Kenston Forest's pitcher stepped up to hand Amelia Academy a 10-0 shutout on Tuesday. The Kavaliers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four matchups by seven runs or more this season.

Graham Sledd

Batters Struck Out (Career)

03/25/25 vs Amelia Academy	11
05/02/24 @ Fuqua	10
03/18/25 @ Southampton Academy	8
03/11/25 vs Blessed Sacrament-Huguenot	8
03/06/25 vs South Garner	7

Graham Sledd made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out 11 over six innings pitched. Those 11 strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also stellar in the batter's box, going 3-for-4 with one home run, three runs, and two RBI.

In other batting news, Kenston Forest let Tine Sledd and Connor Parker run wild. Sledd scored two runs and stole two bases while going 1-for-3, while Parker went a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBI. That's the most RBI Parker has posted since back in May of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Ransom Clarke, who scored two runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

Meanwhile, after low-scoring totals in their previous three contests, Cumberland brought some dynamite into their most recent contest. Everything went their way against Charles City on Wednesday as Cumberland made off with an 18-5 victory. The Dukes not only won on Wednesday, but they posted their biggest win since April 9, 2024.

Kenston Forest's win was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 5-1. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.8 runs on average over those games. As for Cumberland, their win (their first of the season) made their record 1-3.