Baseball Preview: West Jones Mustangs vs. Germantown Mavericks
The West Jones Mustangs will head out on the road to challenge the Germantown Mavericks at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.
West Jones will head into Tuesday's matchup hoping to keep the good times rolling: they proved they can win big on Monday (they won by eight) but on Tuesday they proved they can win the close ones too. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 3-1 win over St. Stanislaus. Winning may never get old, but West Jones sure is getting used to it with their fourth in a row.
West Jones got a great performance from Jaxon Rayborn as he didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over 4.2 innings pitched. Rayborn has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, West Jones' victory was truly a team effort as six different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Harrison Pierce, who went 1-for-1 with a double and an RBI.
Meanwhile, Germantown waltzed into their game on Saturday with three straight wins... but they left with four. They had just enough and edged the Pirates out 6-5.
Ty Ramage looked comfortable as he tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit.
At the plate, Jackson Hood was excellent, going 1-for-4 with a triple, two RBI, and a run. Drew Harrison was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
West Jones pushed their record up to 20-5 with that win, which was their sixth straight at home. As for Germantown, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 18-6 record this season.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. West Jones has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9.8 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Germantown struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.8. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
West Jones came up short against Germantown in their previous meeting back in April of 2023, falling 8-3. Thankfully for West Jones, Cody Presley (who went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
