Baseball Preview: Morehead Panthers vs. West Stokes Wildcats
Morehead and West Stokes are an even 4-4 against one another since April of 2022, but likely not for long. The Morehead Panthers will square off against the West Stokes Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Morehead sitting on three straight wins and West Stokes on seven.
Morehead can now show off 17 landslide victories after their most recent match on Tuesday. They were the clear victor by a 15-5 margin over Reidsville. 15 seems to be a good number for Morehead as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.
The team relied heavily on Zachary Grogan, who scored three runs and stole a base while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances. He is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now stolen at least one in the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Brittyn Barnes, who scored two runs and stole three bases while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, it was close, but on Tuesday West Stokes sidestepped McMichael for a 9-8 win. That's two games straight that West Stokes has won by just one run.
The team relied heavily on Andru Hall, who went 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs, and two RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Kahle Lickfeld, who scored two runs while going 3-for-3.
Morehead's victory bumped their record up to 22-1. As for West Stokes, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 14 of their last 16 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 19-5 record this season.
Thursday's contest might come down to which pitcher can control the ball better. Morehead has hit smart this season, having averaged an OBP of .540. However, it's not like West Stokes struggles in that department as they've averaged .449. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Morehead took their win against West Stokes in their previous meeting back in April by a conclusive 10-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for Morehead since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
