Baseball Game Preview: Keystone Heights Indians vs. Middleburg Broncos

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Previous Games

04/23/24 - Home	9-8 W
04/02/24 - Away	8-4 W
02/28/23 - Away	9-2 W
04/25/22 - Home	7-3 W
03/01/22 - Away	0-4 L
+ 5 more games

Keystone Heights has gone 8-2 against Middleburg recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Keystone Heights Indians are taking a road trip to square off against the Middleburg Broncos at 7:00 p.m. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Keystone Heights sitting on three straight victories and Middleburg on four.

On Thursday, Keystone Heights had just enough and edged out North Marion 2-1.

Keystone Heights saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Austin Smith, who went 1-for-3 with one double and one RBI. That double marked the first that Smith's hit this season.

While Middleburg didn't have the best season last year (they finished 8-15), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They came out on top against Orange Park by a score of 5-2 on Thursday.

Jordan Walker made a splash no matter where he played. He struck out seven batters over five innings while giving up just two earned runs off five hits. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in strikeouts. He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run and stealing two bases while going 1-for-3.

In other batting news, Cole Conte was excellent, going 2-for-3 with one stolen base and two RBI. Those two RBI gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Hunter Smith, who scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.

Keystone Heights now has a winning record of 3-2. As for Middleburg, their win bumped their record up to 4-0.

The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Keystone Heights has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Middleburg struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.2 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.

Keystone Heights skirted past Middleburg 9-8 in their previous matchup back in April of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Keystone Heights since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.