Baseball Game Preview: Wallenpaupack Area Buckhorns vs. North Pocono Trojans

The Wallenpaupack Area Buckhorns will head out on the road to square off against the North Pocono Trojans at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Wallenpaupack Area has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the game with four straight defeats, while North Pocono will come in with three straight wins.

On Friday, Wallenpaupack Area came up short against Delaware Valley and fell 8-4.

JJ Blaum was cooking despite his team's loss, going a perfect 2-for-2 with one triple and two RBI. Ben Lake also deserves some recognition as he got his first hit of the season.

Meanwhile, while North Pocono put up some runs on Wednesday, the same can't be said for West Scranton. The Trojans blew past the Invaders 8-0. The Trojans might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won five matches by seven runs or more this season.

Cael Hafner was a major factor no matter where he played. He kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out 17 over seven innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in seven consecutive appearances. He was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with one home run and two runs.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Josh Staples, who went 2-for-3 with two runs, two doubles, and one stolen base. Those two doubles gave him a new career-high. Jason Walsh was another key player, going 1-for-3 with two RBI.

North Pocono's victory was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 11-4. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games. As for Wallenpaupack Area, their loss dropped their record down to 4-11.

Wallenpaupack Area couldn't quite finish off North Pocono in their previous matchup back in April and fell 3-1. Can the Buckhorns avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.