Baseball Preview: Malcolm Clippers vs. Central City/Centura Kernels
The Malcolm Clippers will square off against the Central City/Centura Kernels at 4:00 p.m. on Monday. Malcolm will be looking to extend their current six-game winning streak.
Malcolm is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They blew past Wayne 8-2. Malcolm might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won 14 matches by six runs or more this season.
Malcolm's victory was truly a team effort as seven different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Maddox Meyer, who scored two runs while going 2-for-4. Meyer has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive pitching appearances.
Meanwhile, while Central City/Centura put up some runs on Saturday, the same can't be said for Douglas County West. Central City/Centura walked away with a 4-0 win over Douglas County West. The victory was nothing new for Central City/Centura as they're now sitting on three straight.
Jakob Ruhl made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run and only one hit while striking out nine over 6.1 innings pitched. Ruhl was also big at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a double.
In other batting news, Conner Erickson was excellent, going 3-for-3 with a stolen base and two RBI.
Malcolm is on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 12 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 20-3 record this season. As for Central City/Centura, their win bumped their record up to 18-7.
Monday's contest might come down to which pitcher can control the ball better. Malcolm has hit smart this season, having averaged an OBP of .487. However, it's not like Central City/Centura struggles in that department as they've averaged .444. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Malcolm came up short against Central City/Centura in their previous matchup back in April, falling 10-5. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Central City/Centura's Mason Gorecki, who pitched 4.1 innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits. Now that Malcolm knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
