Baseball Game Preview: Athens Drive Jaguars vs. Leesville Road Pride

For the second straight game, Athens Drive will face off against Leesville Road. The Jaguars will venture away from home to challenge the Pride at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Athens Drive has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the game with four straight defeats, while Leesville Road will come in with four straight wins.

Last Tuesday, Athens Drive came up short against Leesville Road and fell 6-3.

For Leesville Road's part, Jack Fields looked comfortable as he pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Fields has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive appearances.

At the plate, Ben Fields was excellent, scoring two runs while going 2-for-4. The team also got some help courtesy of Ethan Engelson, who scored two runs while going 1-for-3.

Leesville Road's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 10-5. Those road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 4.0 runs on average over those games. As for Athens Drive, their loss was their first in the conference, dropping their conference record down to 4-1 and their overall record down to 10-8.

The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Athens Drive has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.8 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Leesville Road struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.7 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.