Baseball Game Preview: Loganville Red Devils vs. Gainesville Red Elephants

The Loganville Red Devils will challenge the Gainesville Red Elephants at 2:00 p.m. on Friday. Loganville's pitching crew has only allowed 2.8 runs per game this season, so Gainesville's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Loganville barely beat Grayson the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Red Devils never let the Rams get on the board and left with a 7-0 win on Thursday. The result was nothing new for the Red Devils, who have now won nine matchups by seven runs or more so far this season.

Meanwhile, Gainesville waltzed into their contest last Wednesday with five straight wins... but they left with six. They came within a single run of losing the streak, but they secured a 3-2 W against the Cougars. That's two games straight that the Red Elephants have won by just one run.

Daniel Rico tossed a big game, striking out six batters over five innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off six hits.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Asher Stephens, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 1-for-3. He has become a key player for Gainesville: the team is 5-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 7-11 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Andrew Rice, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with two doubles and one RBI.

Loganville is on a roll lately: they've won 16 of their last 18 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 20-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.0 runs over those games. As for Gainesville, their win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 12-12.

Loganville beat Gainesville 4-1 in their previous meeting back in March of 2016. Do the Red Devils have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Red Elephants turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.