Baseball Preview: The Village School of Naples Knights vs. Marco Island Academy Rays
The Village School of Naples Knights will head out on the road to square off against the Marco Island Academy Rays at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. The Village School of Naples is strutting in with some hitting muscle, as they've averaged 8.5 runs per game this season.
The Village School of Naples stacked a fourth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Wednesday. Everything went their way against Donahue Catholic as The Village School of Naples made off with a 12-5 victory. The win made it back-to-back victories for The Village School of Naples.
Will Pryor was a major factor while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he struck out six batters over three innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off three hits (and not a single walk). Pryor was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-4.
In other batting news, Jacob Sweet was a standout: he scored two runs and stole a base while going 3-for-4. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last four times he's played. Another player making a difference was Christian Horvath, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-4.
Meanwhile, Marco Island Academy had just enough and edged Golden Gate out 7-6 last Thursday.
Like The Village School of Naples, Marco Island Academy also got a great game from a two-way player: Akiel Jimenez. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 13 batters over 6.2 innings while giving up just two earned runs off one hit. Jimenez was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances.
In other batting news, Ryan Sweeney was incredible, going 3-for-6 with a home run, three runs, and three RBI. Aidan Karl was another key contributor, scoring two runs while going 3-for-6.
The Village School of Naples pushed their record up to 8-3 with that win, which was their fourth straight at home. As for Marco Island Academy, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 9-7 record this season.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Friday as neither team is afraid to steal. The Village School of Naples has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 7.6 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Marco Island Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.6. The only question left is which team can snag more.
The Village School of Naples might still be hurting after the 11-1 loss they got from Marco Island Academy in their previous meeting on April 11th. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Jimenez, who struck out nine batters over 4.2 innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits (and not a single walk). Now that The Village School of Naples knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
