Baseball Game Preview: Effingham County Rebels vs. Harlem Bulldogs

Effingham County has won four straight games at home, while Harlem has won four straight on the road dating back to last season, but those streaks won't matter much on Tuesday. The Rebels will welcome the Bulldogs at 4:00 p.m. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Effingham County 3.4, Harlem 1.3) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Ten must be Effingham County's lucky number: they beat Statesboro with that score not once but twice on Thursday. The Rebels put the hurt on the Blue Devils with a sharp 10-2 win. The result was nothing new for the Rebels, who have now won ten contests by six runs or more so far this season.

Statesboro's batters probably weren't too happy with Luke Edwards, who pitched a no hitter and racked up nine Ks (he gave up five walks). Edwards has been consistent : he hasn't given up more than one earned run any time he's pitched this season.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Kaleb Pendley, who got on base in four of his five plate appearances with four runs, two triples, and two RBI. Those two triples gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Caleb Swindle, who scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

Effingham County was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .382. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive matches.

Meanwhile, Harlem never let their opponents score on Thursday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 1-0 victory over West Laurens. Those one runs were actually the fewest the Bulldogs have put up all season, but given the result they're probably not too concerned.

Effingham County is on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 12 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 23-3 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.6 runs on average over those games. As for Harlem, their victory bumped their record up to 23-0.