Baseball Game Preview: Pinellas Park Patriots vs. Anclote Sharks

The Pinellas Park Patriots will look to take advantage of their home field for the first time this season as they take on the Anclote Sharks at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday.

Pinellas Park easily dispatched Keswick Christian on Thursday, but unfortunately both the margin and the ultimate result were a different story in this one. Pinellas Park fell just short of Clearwater by a score of 3-1 on Wednesday. The Patriots haven't had much luck with the Tornadoes recently, as the team has come up short the last three times they've met.

Pinellas Park got a good showing from Nathan Timpe, who pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Timpe has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up a single walks in four consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Pinellas Park saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Carter DuBois, who scored a run while going 1-for-3. DuBois also put up a double, which was his first of the season.

Meanwhile, Anclote posted their closest victory since March 19, 2024 on Friday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against IMG Academy White, sneaking past 4-3.

Pinellas Park's loss dropped their record down to 1-5. As for Anclote, the win got them back to even at 2-2.

The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Pinellas Park has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Anclote struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.8 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.

Everything went Pinellas Park's way against Anclote in their previous meeting back in February of 2021, as Pinellas Park made off with a 15-3 victory. Does Pinellas Park have another victory up their sleeve, or will Anclote turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.