Baseball Preview: Pine Creek Eagles vs. Doherty Spartans
Pine Creek is 9-1 against Doherty since March of 2018, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The Pine Creek Eagles will head out on the road to challenge the Doherty Spartans at 4:00 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Pine Creek unfortunately witnessed the end of their three-game winning streak on Tuesday. They took a 5-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of Fountain-Fort Carson.
Banan Vandever was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he struck out seven batters over 4.2 innings while giving up just two earned runs off three hits (and only one walk). He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up a single walk in three consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Pine Creek saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Zach Murray, who went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Another player making a difference was Cannon Budge, who scored a run while going 2-for-4.
Meanwhile, after soaring to 13 runs the game before, Doherty was a bit more limited in their game on Tuesday. They fell 7-2 to Liberty.
Giovanni Rishavy made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases and an RBI.
Pine Creek's record now sits at 6-3. As for Doherty, they dropped their record down to 4-6 with that defeat, which was their fourth straight on the road dating back to last season.
Doherty's pitching crew has a tough task ahead of them: Pine Creek has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 9.2 hits per game. It's a different story for Doherty, though, as they've been averaging 9.2. Given Pine Creek's sizable advantage in that area, Doherty will need to find a way to close that gap.
Pine Creek took their win against Doherty in their previous meeting back in May of 2023 by a conclusive 12-0. Will Pine Creek repeat their success, or does Doherty have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
