The Wayne County War Eagles are taking a road trip to challenge the Taylorsville Tartars at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Wayne County will be strutting in after a victory while Taylorsville will be coming in after a defeat.
The home team had come away the winner the last five times Wayne County and Richton had met, but sadly for the fans who attended this one that wasn't the case. Wayne County was the clear victors by an 11-5 margin over Richton on Tuesday. Considering the War Eagles have won four contests by more than five runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.
Colt Branch made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in strikeouts (five). He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring three runs and stealing two bases while getting on base in two of his five plate appearances. Those runs marked the first that he scored this season.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Jacob Bowles, who scored three runs and stole two bases while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in runs. Another player making a difference was Ross Clements, who went 3-for-5 with five RBI.
Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, Taylorsville's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They fell just short of Seminary by a score of 6-4.
Like Wayne County, Taylorsville also got a great game from a two-way player: Ford Matthews. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out eight batters over 4.1 innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off four hits. Matthews has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, going 1-for-4 with one home run.
Matthews wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Caden Bester, who went 1-for-3 with one triple and one run.
Taylorsville's loss dropped their record down to 3-3. As for Wayne County, their record now sits at 5-2.
Wayne County took their win against Taylorsville when the teams last played back in February of 2024 by a conclusive 17-10. Will Wayne County repeat their success, or does Taylorsville have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
