Baseball Game Preview: First Baptist Academy Lions vs. Palmetto Ridge Bears

First Baptist Academy hasn't had much luck against Palmetto Ridge recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. First Baptist Academy will be playing in front of their home fans against Palmetto Ridge at 4:00 p.m. First Baptist Academy's pitching crew has only allowed 3.3 runs per game this season, so Palmetto Ridge's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Last Saturday, First Baptist Academy came up short against IMG Academy Navy and fell 9-4. That's two games in a row now that the Lions have lost by exactly five runs.

Meanwhile, Palmetto Ridge got the win against Lehigh on Monday by a conclusive 14-1. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Bears.

Palmetto Ridge got a great performance from Jack Willar as he struck out eight batters over 4.2 innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. Those eight strikeouts gave Willar a new career-high.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Greg Corrasco, who scored two runs while going 3-for-3. Palmetto Ridge is undefeated when Corrasco posts two or more runs, but 6-9 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Jayden Herrera, who scored two runs while going 2-for-3.

Palmetto Ridge was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .519. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive matches.

Palmetto Ridge's victory was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-9. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.6 runs on average over those games. As for First Baptist Academy, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 13-7.