Baseball Game Preview: Preston Pirates vs. Ripley Warriors

The Preston Pirates will challenge the Ripley Warriors at 12:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Preston 3, Ripley 2.8) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Preston is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Oklahoma's top teams: Stigler, who was ranked 12th at the time (Preston was ranked 17th). The Pirates fell just short of the Panthers by a score of 9-8 on Tuesday. The Pirates have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Kaden Dean made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and went a perfect 4-for-4 with four RBI, two runs, and two doubles. He also put up a triple, which was his first of the season. Another player making a difference was Pepper Gallup, who scored a run while going 3-for-4.

Meanwhile, Ripley got the win against Lomega on Monday by a conclusive 13-1. The result was nothing new for the Warriors, who have now won ten contests by eight runs or more so far this season.

Ripley pushed their record up to 14-1 with the victory, which was their fifth straight on the road dating back to last season. The road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.4 runs over those games. As for Preston, their defeat dropped their record down to 10-2.

Preston beat Ripley 9-5 when the teams last played back in April of 2024. Will the Pirates repeat their success, or do the Warriors have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.