Baseball Game Preview: Summit Academy Bears vs. Orem Tigers

The Summit Academy Bears are taking a road trip to challenge the Orem Tigers at 11:00 a.m. on Monday. Summit Academy has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the matchup with five straight defeats, while Orem will come in with four straight wins.

Friday just wasn't the day for Summit Academy's offense. They lost 13-0 to Timpanogos on Friday.

Meanwhile, Orem was able to grind out a solid victory over Mountain View on Friday, taking the game 14-9.

Chase Ford made a splash while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out seven batters over five innings while giving up just one earned (and four unearned) runs off seven hits (and only one walk). Ford was also solid in the batter's box, going 3-for-5 with one triple and one RBI. That's the most hits he has posted since back in March.

In other batting news, Benji Engemann was incredible, going 3-for-4 with one home run, three runs, and four RBI. He has become a key player for Orem: the team is 2-1 when he posts at least three hits, but 6-7 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Mack Ellison, who went 4-for-5 with two runs, one triple, and one stolen base.

Orem kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 24 hits. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 5.2 hits per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 contests they've averaged 11.4.

The win got Orem back to even at 8-8. As for Summit Academy, their loss dropped their record down to 3-11.