Baseball Preview: Lemon Bay Manta Rays vs. Charlotte Fightin' Tarpons
The Lemon Bay Manta Rays will head out on the road to challenge the Charlotte Fightin' Tarpons at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Lemon Bay is strutting in with some hitting muscle, as they've averaged 6.1 runs per game this season.
On Friday, Lemon Bay suffered a tough 8-1 loss at the hands of Port Charlotte. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Lemon Bay in their matchups with Port Charlotte: they've now lost four in a row.
Lemon Bay saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Joel Vazquez, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3. Vazquez has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last three times he's played.
Meanwhile, Charlotte narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past IMG Academy Royal 5-4. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Charlotte.
Braddock Marshall was excellent, going 1-for-3 with three RBI and a triple.
Lemon Bay's loss dropped their record down to 7-11. As for Charlotte, they now have a winning record of 10-9.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Monday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. Lemon Bay has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Charlotte 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.
Lemon Bay took their victory against Charlotte in their previous matchup back in March by a conclusive 6-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for Lemon Bay 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
