Baseball Recap: North Comes Up Short

North had lost three straight at home, but on Monday they dropped down to 10-13 to make it four. They took a 6-3 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Millikan Rams. That's two games in a row now that the Saxons have lost by exactly three runs.

Josiah Reed made the most of his time in the batter's box despite the final result and got on base in three of his four plate appearances with three stolen bases and one run. Another player making a difference was Shouta Saito, who went 2-for-4 with one stolen base and two RBI.

As for Millikan, they are on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 11 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 16-6 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.7 runs over those games.

On Millikan's side, they got a great performance from Austin Brett as he struck out seven batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off six hits. Brett has been consistent: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in eight consecutive appearances.

At the plate, Millikan's win was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Shane Walley, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one RBI. AJ Nonato was another, earning one RBI, one run, and one stolen base.

Looking ahead, North will square off against Peninsula at 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday. The Panthers have struggled to contain batters this season (they've allowed 6.76 runs per game on average), something the Saxons will no doubt try to take advantage of. As for Millikan, they will face off against Woodrow Wilson at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (the Rams 1.7, the Bruins 3.3) so any runs scored will be well earned.