Baseball Game Preview: Lafayette Hornets vs. Union County Fightin' Tigers

The Lafayette Hornets will face off against the Union County Fightin' Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Lafayette is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7 runs per game this season.

Lafayette will roll into the matchup after a wild two-game stretch: they didn't score any runs on Thursday, then bounced right back against Chiefland on Tuesday. Lafayette put the hurt on Chiefland with a sharp 13-2 victory. The home team had taken home the W every time these teams have met since February 24, 2023, but that streak is no more.

Lafayette got a massive performance out of Hyatt Richardson, who scored three runs while going 2-for-2. Trevor Byrd was another key player, going 1-for-3 with one home run and three RBI.

Meanwhile, Union County earned an 8-3 win over Forest on Monday.

Foster Smith looked comfortable as he struck out six batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in strikeouts.

On the hitting side, Trenton Klein was excellent, going 2-for-3 with four RBI and one double. Those four RBI gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Jeffrey Brugh, who scored a run and stole Two bases. while going 2-for-4.

Lafayette's victory was their eighth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 7-2. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.8 runs on average over those games. As for Union County, their win bumped their record up to 8-3.

Lafayette was able to grind out a solid victory over Union County in their previous matchup back in May of 2024, winning 4-0. Will Lafayette repeat their success, or does Union County have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.