Baseball Game Preview: C.B. Aycock Golden Falcons vs. East Duplin Panthers

The C.B. Aycock Golden Falcons are taking a road trip to challenge the East Duplin Panthers at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: C.B. Aycock has struggled recently with three defeats in a row, while East Duplin will arrive with five straight victories.

C.B. Aycock saw some tournament action on Monday. They fell just short of South Lenoir by a score of 12-11. That's two games in a row now that the Golden Falcons have lost by just one run.

Zay Cora

Runs

04/21/25 @ South Lenoir	3
04/19/25 vs Midway	2
04/15/25 vs Fike	2
04/14/25 @ East Wake	2
03/28/25 vs Smithfield-Selma	2
+ 6 more games

Zay Cora stepped up to lead a balanced group of hitters: he went 1-for-3 with three runs, one stolen base, and one double. He is becoming a predictor of C.B. Aycock's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is 4-2 (and 4-10 when he doesn't). Another player making a difference was Jayce Poole, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two RBI and one run.

Meanwhile, East Duplin beat Rosewood 5-2 on Monday.

East Duplin also got a great performance from Kyle Kern as he struck out 13 batters over six innings while giving up just two earned runs off three hits. Kern has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't tossed less than nine strikeouts in six consecutive appearances.

At the plate, East Duplin's win was truly a team effort as seven different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Sawyer Marshburn, who went 2-for-3 with one RBI. Cain Graham was another, going 2-for-4 with one run, one double, and one RBI.

East Duplin pushed their record up to 12-6 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home. As for C.B. Aycock, their loss dropped their record down to 8-12.

C.B. Aycock took their win against East Duplin when the teams last played back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 12-2 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Golden Falcons since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.