Baseball Game Preview: The Villages Charter Buffalo vs. Horizon Hawks

The Villages Charter Buffalo will face off against the Horizon Hawks at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (The Villages Charter has five straight victories, Horizon has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

The Villages Charter proved they can win big on Saturday (they won by ten) and on Saturday they proved they can win the close ones too. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Walker Valley, sneaking past 3-2. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Buffalo have posted since April 24, 2024.

Samuel Craig

Batters Struck Out

03/29/25 @ Walker Valley	4
03/21/25 @ IMG Academy Gold	3
03/17/25 vs Winter Springs	3
03/13/25 @ Lecanto	0
03/12/25 @ Apopka	1
02/28/25 vs Forest	8

Samuel Craig spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered two runs (both of which were unearned) on five hits. What's more, he posted four strikeouts, the most he's had since back in February.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Marcello Cortale, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one stolen base and one RBI.

Meanwhile, Horizon came up short against Olympia on Friday, falling 17-9.

The Villages Charter's victory was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 16-4. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.8 runs on average over those games. As for Horizon, their defeat dropped their record down to 11-9.