Baseball Game Preview: Sacopee Valley Hawks vs. Oak Hill Raiders

The Sacopee Valley Hawks will venture away from home to take on the Oak Hill Raiders at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Sacopee Valley has five straight wins, Oak Hill has six straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

The scorekeeper got an easy start on Monday as neither Sacopee Valley nor Buckfield made it on the board until the sixth inning. The Hawks sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 2-0 victory over the Bucks. That's two games straight that the Hawks have won by exactly two runs.

The result came thanks to Chase Parker's shutout, as he gave up just a hit and racked up eight Ks.

At the plate, Sacopee Valley's win was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Braiden Croteau, who went 2-for-4 with one stolen base and one double. That's the most hits Croteau has posted since back in April of 2024.

Meanwhile, Oak Hill came up short against Maranacook on Monday, falling 8-1.

Sacopee Valley pushed their record up to 6-3 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. Those road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.0 runs over those games. As for Oak Hill, their loss dropped their record down to 1-7.

Sacopee Valley's speedy runners might be the difference in Wednesday's contest. The Hawks have been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 5.2 stolen bases per game. It's a different story for Oak Hill, though, as they've been averaging only 1.2 stolen bases. Will they be able to secure the bases, or will Sacopee Valley continue to outrun the ball?

Sacopee Valley couldn't quite get it done against Oak Hill in their previous meeting back in April of 2024 as they fell 3-0. Can the Hawks avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.