Rosewood will challenge East Wake Academy on Tuesday. Both teams are coming into the match red-hot, with Rosewood sitting on five straight victories and East Wake Academy on nine.
Rosewood is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They never let West Columbus get on the board and left with a 3-0 win.
Rosewood saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Braxson Waters, who went 1-for-2 with one run and one RBI.
Meanwhile, it may have taken eight innings to finish the job, but East Wake Academy ultimately got the result they hoped for on Thursday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past East Columbus 13-12. The pitching woes were uncharacteristic for the Eagles, who until this contest were averaging 3.29 runs allowed.
Mason Brantley tossed a big game, striking out eight batters over 4.2 innings while giving up four earned (and one unearned) runs off three hits. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in April.
At the plate, East Wake Academy got a massive performance out of James Duffield, who fired off two home runs, three runs, and one double while going 3-for-5. That's the most hits Duffield has posted since back in March. Dylan Palmer was another key player, getting on base in all five of his plate appearances with three stolen bases, two runs, and two RBI.
East Wake Academy kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 13 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least 12 hits in three consecutive games.
East Wake Academy pushed their record up to 18-3 with the win, which was their ninth straight at home. The team dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 12.9 runs. As for Rosewood, their record is now 20-8.
Rosewood came up short against East Wake Academy in their previous meeting back in June of 2021, falling 6-2. Can Rosewood avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
