Baseball Game Preview: Virginia City Muckers vs. Mineral County Serpents

By Team Reports Apr 18, 2025, 4:18am

Baseball Preview: Virginia City Muckers vs. Mineral County Serpents

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The Virginia City Muckers will challenge the Mineral County Serpents at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. Virginia City has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the match with eight straight defeats, while Mineral County will come in with four straight wins.

Excel Christian hit Virginia City with a four-run fourth inning on Thursday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Muckers lost 9-3 to the Warriors.

Tyler Battaglia made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and earned one run and four stolen bases.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Mineral County). They blew past Lee Vining 23-6 on Tuesday. Considering the Serpents have won nine games by more than six runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.

Mineral County let Evan Cox and Michael Blackwood run wild. Cox got on base in all four of his plate appearances with five stolen bases, four runs, and one RBI, while Blackwood went 3-for-4 with five RBI, three runs, and one double. Blackwood is becoming a predictor of Mineral County's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is 5-1 (and 5-7 when he doesn't). Sean Ethridge was another key player, going 1-for-4 with three stolen bases, three RBI, and two runs.

Mineral County always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .646. The last time their OBP was this high was back in March.

Mineral County pushed their record up to 10-8 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Virginia City, their loss dropped their record down to 2-14.

The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Saturday as neither team is afraid to steal. Virginia City has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.9 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Mineral County struggles in that department as they've been averaging 5.9 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more.

Virginia City suffered a grim 15-7 defeat to Mineral County when the teams last played back in March of 2024. Will the Muckers have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.

Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps