Baseball Game Preview: Laurens Raiders vs. Westside Rams

Laurens is preparing for their first region matchup of the season on Monday. They will look to defend their home field against the Westside Rams at 6:30 p.m. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Laurens barely beat Greenwood the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. Laurens came out on top against Greenwood on Thursday by a score of 11-1 (the very same score they lost by in their prior game). The victory continues a trend for the Raiders in their matchups with the Eagles: they've now won six in a row.

Meanwhile, Westside put another one in the bag on Wednesday to keep their perfect season alive. They walked away with a 7-4 win over Woodmont. While the Rams didn't have the best season last year (they finished 12-16), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.

The team relied heavily on Jacob Holmes, who went 2-for-4 with one home run and two RBI. That home run marked the first that he launched this season. Another player making a difference was Phoenix Herndon, who went 2-for-4 with one double and one RBI.

Westside pushed their record up to 5-0 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.3 runs on average over those games. As for Laurens, the win got them back to even at 1-1.

Laurens came out on top in a nail-biter against Westside when the teams last played back in May of 2022, sneaking past 7-6. Will Laurens repeat their success, or does Westside have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.