Baseball Preview: North Providence Cougars vs. Middletown Islanders
The North Providence Cougars will look to defend their home field on Friday against the Middletown Islanders at 12:00 p.m. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Having struggled with six defeats in a row dating back to last season, North Providence finally turned things around against St. Raphael Academy on Wednesday. North Providence skirted past St. Raphael Academy 5-4.
North Providence saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Ronald Paux, who scored a run while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Middletown, who bounced back after a tough loss on the road on Monday. Everything went their way against Burrillville on Wednesday as Middletown made off with a 12-4 win. That eight run margin sets a new team best for Middletown this season.
Evan Agren was a major factor while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he tossed six innings while giving up four earned runs off five hits. Agren was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 1-for-3.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Evan Levasseur, who scored three runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last three times he's played. Jacob Mello was another key contributor, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 3-for-4.
North Providence made their fans wait, but they earned their first win of the season to make their record 1-5. As for Middletown, the victory got them back to even at 3-3.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. North Providence has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.3 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Middletown struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.7. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
