Baseball Game Preview: Franklin Knights vs. Slippery Rock Rockets

The Franklin Knights are taking a road trip to face off against the Slippery Rock Rockets at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Franklin didn't have quite enough to beat Oil City and fell 3-1. The Knights have struggled against the Oilers recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive lost meeting.

Franklin saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Drew Kockler, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base and one RBI.

Meanwhile, Slippery Rock strolled into their game on Wednesday with a perfect record and they left with the same. They put the hurt on Titusville with a sharp 10-2 victory. Ten seems to be a good number for Slippery Rock as the squad scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Austan Runtas spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered two runs (both of which were unearned) on two hits and racked up six Ks. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive appearances.

At the plate, Slippery Rock got a big performance out of Parker Dalcamo, who went 3-for-4 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run. Those two RBI gave Dalcamo a new career-high. Isaac McCandless was another key player, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with two runs and one stolen base.

Slippery Rock always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .514. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.

Slippery Rock pushed their record up to 9-0 with the victory, which was their 11th straight at home dating back to last season. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.3 runs over those games. As for Franklin, they now have a losing record of 5-6.

Franklin might still be hurting after the 12-4 loss they got from Slippery Rock in their previous matchup back in March. Can the Knights avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.