Baseball Game Preview: Freedom Patriots vs. Cheshire Academy Cats

The Freedom Patriots will face off against the Cheshire Academy Cats at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Freedom is coming into the contest on a six-game losing streak.

For whatever reason, it's the away team that's had the advantage when Freedom and Boone meet (three straight games heading into this one) and that held true again on Friday. Freedom fell just short of Boone by a score of 8-6.

Juan Pablo Gatica was cooking despite his team's loss, scoring a run while going 1-for-3. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in RBI (two). Jeyson Franco also deserves some recognition as he snagged his first stolen base of the season.

Meanwhile, Cheshire Academy had to kick off their season on the road on Sunday, but they showed no ill effects. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Pennington, sneaking past 12-11.

Tyler Stone made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He struck out six batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs or hits (and only one walk). Stone was also big at the plate, going a perfect 2-for-2 with five RBI, one run, and one double.

In other pitching news, Noah Kalarickal looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit.

Back at the plate, Jason Dewitt was excellent, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3. Conner Crosbie was another key player, scoring a run while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

Freedom's defeat dropped their record down to 4-8. As for Cheshire Academy, their victory bumped their record up to 1-0.