The Winter Haven Blue Devils will face off against the McKeel Academy Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Winter Haven will be hoping to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each match than the last.
Winter Haven is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. Everything went their way against Auburndale on Friday as Winter Haven made off with a 13-6 win. The victory continues a trend for the Blue Devils in their matchups with the Bloodhounds: they've now won four in a row.
Winter Haven got a great performance from Jaden Horbett as he didn't allow a single earned run over 4.2 innings pitched.
At the plate, Winter Haven let Zion Philpot and Brody Catrett loose on the outfield. Philpot scored three runs and stole a base while going 2-for-4, while Catrett went 2-for-5 with four RBI, one stolen base, and one run. Tyler Young was another key player, scoring two runs while going 2-for-5.
Winter Haven kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 15 hits. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Auburndale only hit ten hits.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for McKeel Academy, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 5-3 win over Lakeland on Thursday. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Wildcats have posted since April 8, 2024.
J.C. Diaz looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Furthermore, he didn't allow a single walk, the first time he has blanked an opponent since back in April of 2024.
On the hitting side, McKeel Academy's win was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Wyatt Thomas, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3.
The victory got Winter Haven back to even at 2-2. As for McKeel Academy, the win got them back to even at 1-1.
