Baseball Preview: Hernando Leopards vs. Nature Coast Tech Sharks
The Hernando Leopards will be staying on the road on Saturday to face off against the Nature Coast Tech Sharks at 7:00 p.m. Both teams come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Hernando is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They came out on top against Bishop Moore by a score of 11-7. The high-scoring effort was just what Hernando needed considering they were shutout in their previous matchup.
The team relied heavily on Bryce Saltsman, who scored three runs and stole a base while going 1-for-4. Another player making a difference was Kaine Ellis, who went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a double.
Meanwhile, Nature Coast Tech had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8 runs), and they went ahead and made it four on Wednesday. They walked away with a 5-1 win over the Scorpions.
Nature Coast Tech saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Nate Leavitt, who scored two runs while going 1-for-3. The team also got some help courtesy of Joey Vancleave, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Hernando is on a roll lately: they've won 12 of their last 15 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 18-9 record this season. As for Nature Coast Tech, they pushed their record up to 19-6 with that victory, which was their fourth straight at home.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Hernando has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Nature Coast Tech struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.4. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Hernando might still be hurting after the 7-0 defeat they got from Nature Coast Tech in their previous meeting on Thursday. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Nature Coast Tech's Jackson Hoyt, who didn't allow a single earned run and only two hits while striking out seven over six innings pitched. Now that Hernando knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
