Baseball Preview: Picayune Maroon Tide vs. Hattiesburg Tigers
Picayune is 1-9 against Hattiesburg since April of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Picayune Maroon Tide will be playing in front of their home fans against the Hattiesburg Tigers at 7:00 p.m. Picayune is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last six games.
Last Friday, it was close, but Picayune sidestepped Long Beach for a 3-2 victory.
Picayune let Justin Stockstill and Jamie Lumpkin loose on the outfield. Stockstill scored two runs while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances, while Lumpkin scored a run while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. Parker Helton was another key contributor, going 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI.
Meanwhile, Hattiesburg put the finishing touches on their 16th blowout victory of the season on Tuesday. They blew past North Forrest 14-4. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for Hattiesburg considering their two-run performance the contest before.
The team relied heavily on Ramarion Wilson, who went 2-for-4 with three runs, a triple, and two RBI. Another player making a difference was D.J. Johnson, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-4.
Picayune is on a roll lately: they've won 13 of their last 15 games, which provided a nice bump to their 19-7 record this season. As for Hattiesburg, their win bumped their record up to an identical 19-7.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Picayune has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.6 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Hattiesburg struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.3. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Picayune suffered a grim 12-2 defeat to Hattiesburg in their previous meeting back in April of 2021. Thankfully for Picayune, Jaylen Backman (who didn't allow a single earned run over six innings pitched) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
