Baseball Game Preview: Riverside-Durham Pirates vs. Hillside Hornets

For the second straight game, Riverside-Durham will face off against Hillside. Riverside-Durham will look to defend their home field on Thursday against Hillside at 6:00 p.m. Riverside-Durham will come into the game with an undefeated record on the line.

Riverside-Durham's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Hillside with a sharp 14-0 win. The Pirates might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won seven contests by seven runs or more this season.

Sam Bowers made a big impact no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out seven over six innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up a single earned run in three consecutive appearances. He was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 2-for-4. He also put up a double, which was his first of the season.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Brayden Mottola, who went 2-for-4 with one triple, one run, and one double. That triple marked the first that he hit this season. Another player making a difference was Micah Harris, who scored a run while going 1-for-4.

Riverside-Durham hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Hillside struck out ten times.

Riverside-Durham pushed their record up to 9-0 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.0 runs on average over those games. As for Hillside, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-3.

Hillside's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Riverside-Durham hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .336. It's a different story for Hillside, though, as they've only averaged .250. Will they be able to contain Riverside-Durham's hitters? Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.