Baseball Preview: Liberty Patriots vs. Stockdale Mustangs
Liberty and Stockdale are an even 5-5 against one another since May of 2022, but likely not for long. The Liberty Patriots will be playing in front of their home fans against the Stockdale Mustangs at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Liberty comes in on 14 and Stockdale on four.
Liberty is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They won by a run and slipped past Tulare Western 3-2.
Evan Churchman spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on five hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in six consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Davis Goodwin was excellent, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and a double. The team also got some help courtesy of Brock Thompson, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, Stockdale beat Central 6-2 on Tuesday.
Stockdale also let their pitcher toss all seven innings and he was also dialed-in: Bowen Salyards gave up only one earned (and one unearned) run on six hits and racked up six Ks.
At the plate, Hayden Elchlepp was incredible, scoring two runs while going 3-for-3. Logan Goodspeed was another key contributor, going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Liberty is on a roll lately: they've won 16 of their last 17 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 26-4 record this season. As for Stockdale, their win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 18-11.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. Liberty hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 1.2 home runs per game. However, it's not like Stockdale struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.5. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Liberty came out on top in a nail-biter against Stockdale in their previous meeting back in April, sneaking past 3-1. Will Liberty repeat their success, or does Stockdale have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
