Baseball Game Preview: Eastern Guilford Wildcats vs. Rockingham County Cougars

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Previous Games

03/18/25 - Home	2-11 L
04/15/24 - Home	0-4 L
03/19/24 - Away	3-4 L
05/05/23 - Home	5-0 W
03/24/23 - Away	5-3 W
+ 5 more games

Eastern Guilford and Rockingham County are an even 5-5 against one another since March of 2017, but likely not for long. A feisty cat fight will be fought as Eastern Guilford Wildcats take on Rockingham County Cougars at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Eastern Guilford has given up an average of 14.4 runs per game this season, so hopefully the team got some pitching drills in this week.

Thursday just wasn't the day for Eastern Guilford's offense. They came up short against Southeast Alamance on Thursday, falling 22-0. The Wildcats have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Meanwhile, Rockingham County had already won six in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 13.2 runs) and they went ahead and made it seven on Wednesday. They were the clear victor by a 15-4 margin over the Panthers. The Cougars might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won six contests by eight runs or more this season.

Nick Rumbley and Hudson Deel made a splash no matter where they played. On the mound, Rumbley didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits over four innings pitched. Meanwhile, Deel pitched three innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. That's the fewest hits he has allowed since back in May of 2024. At the plate, Rumbley scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in three of his five plate appearances, while Deel got on base in four of his five plate appearances with one home run. Rumbley is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now snagged at least one in each of the last three games he's played.

In other batting news, Rockingham County got a big performance out of Brady Ross, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3. The dominant performance also gave Ross a new career-high in RBI (three). Bryson Apple was another key player, scoring two runs while going 2-for-4.

Rockingham County was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .375. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Morehead only posted a batting average of .200.

Rockingham County's victory was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 8-1. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.8 runs on average over those games. As for Eastern Guilford, their loss dropped their record down to 2-8.

Eastern Guilford might still be hurting after the 11-2 defeat they got from Rockingham County when the teams last played on Tuesday. Can Eastern Guilford avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.