Baseball Game Preview: Decatur Red Raiders vs. Athens Golden Eagles

The Decatur Red Raiders will square off against the Athens Golden Eagles at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.

The home team had won the previous four meetings between Decatur and Athens, and Athens kept the tradition alive. Decatur fell just short of Athens by a score of 8-7 on Tuesday. The Red Raiders haven't had much luck with the Golden Eagles recently, as the team has come up short the last three times they've met.

For Athens' part, Jaret Johnson looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. What's more, Johnson posted three strikeouts, the most he's had since back in February.

At the plate, Athens saw seven different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Hudson Marks, who scored a run while going 2-for-3. John Lawrence Chittam was another, scoring two runs while going 2-for-4.

Athens pushed their record up to 10-4 with the win, which was their fifth straight at home. They've had to fight for that success though, as they only beat their opponents by an average of 2.8 runs across that stretch. As for Decatur, their loss dropped their record down to 4-9.